Franklin Pride will return to the Park at Harlinsdale Farm on June 3. The Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen narrowly approved the festival in a 5-4 vote Tuesday night following months of public pushback against Pride celebrations in Franklin and across Middle Tennessee.
Franklin Mayor Ken Moore cast the deciding vote after more than an hour of debate and a nearly two-hour public comment period. The meeting saw more than 100 speakers during the work session and voting meeting, which also took up a proposed “community decency policy.” That policy vote was ultimately deferred until May.
As previously reported, Aldermen Beverly Burger and Gabrielle Hanson led the charge against the festival, citing concerns over last year’s drag performances, which sparked outcry from community members and right-wing activist groups online. In addition to Burger and Hanson, Aldermen Patrick Baggett and Clyde Barnhill also voted against awarding Franklin Pride a permit.
Aldermen Matt Brown, Brandy Blanton, Jason Potts and Ann Petersen all voted in favor of Pride.
This year’s festival will not include drag performances, a voluntary decision made by the organizers following the passage of new state legislation criminalizing drag performances in public where children could be present. That law has been temporarily delayed due to a decision from U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Parker.
Festival organizers have also worked with city officials to make adjustments to the festival’s planning, including increased transparency about live performances.
Community members gather at Franklin City Hall, April 11, 2023
Public Comment and Debate
More than 100 people — including pastors, festival organizers and community members from Williamson County and beyond — spoke for and against the festival during Tuesday night’s meeting. Many opponents claimed they were “shocked” by last year’s drag performances, citing their Christian faith and desire for “decency” as reasons to stand against Franklin Pride.
Among those in opposition were members and supporters of far-right activist organizations Moms for Liberty, Tennessee Stands, and Gays Against Groomers, many wearing white-and-red stickers reading “Protect All Children.”
Many Pride supporters spoke of their need for an inclusive and safe public space to hold the festival.
“I do believe there are people in our community who are diverse, and we are a welcoming community, and I think about the stickers that you wear tonight, ‘Protect [All] Children,’ I appreciate that,” said Alderman Blanton. “But I also appreciate the idea that parents are in charge of their children. If it’s something that you don’t want your child to be around, then you don’t take them.”
Blanton also said that “a lot of the communications we received were not from people inside the city of Franklin, and that also weighs heavy on my mind.” She added that some messages opposing the festival came from as far away as San Francisco and Canada.
Burger advocated for denying the permit for 2023 and reviewing a permit request next year, saying, “I do not base my vote on any hard feelings or personal feelings or emotion, but based on hard facts and evidence based on city and state law and general community standards.”
Hanson displayed several printed images of drag performers, arguing that drag shows should be limited to 18-and-up audiences. She claimed that the Franklin community has proven to be accepting of the Franklin Pride organization, citing their involvement in other community celebrations such as the Main Street Festival and Pumpkin Festival.
“I don’t want our police to be in the position of being fashion patrol or decency patrol,” Hanson said. “This year I can’t trust Franklin Pride to filter this event for people who might show up for shock value and do an impromptu drag show, or the nude individuals with G-strings on whose bodies are painted, or the ass chaps on individuals running around, or dildos hanging off of necklaces or belts.”
“This is new to Franklin, this decisiveness, this seeking of sort of government intervention,” Brown said. “The Franklin I moved to, I remember it was sort of you leaned into your churches and into your faith, maybe because even our faith organizations can’t seem to reach agreement on this topic.”
Franklin Alderman Gabrielle Hanson holds up a photo of drag performers during the April 11, 2023, Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting
Alderman Potts also spoke about the divide within the religious community. “As a Christian, I was shocked [by] both sides of this argument or of this discussion,” he said. “Both sides told me I was going to burn in hell.”
Potts also said that late 21st Judicial District Attorney General Kim Helper previously reviewed footage of the 2022 Franklin Pride event and determined that no laws were broken, and that no citations or arrests were made during or following last year’s event.
“I’m going to speak to the event organizers,” said Potts. “Last year you presented this as ‘family-friendly.’ Even though laws weren’t broken, the theme of what you presented, and you hear about the trust, that was broken.”
Potts also called on city staff and law enforcement to have continued training to ensure that “each individual fully understands when a violation occurs and how to take the appropriate steps.”
Brown said that of the nearly 1,000 comments he received from his constituents, “five to one” were in favor of approving the festival. He also warned of serious legal and financial consequences if the festival were to be denied based on perceived fears of indecency, citing a 2018 court case involving a Starkville, Miss., Pride parade. Brown noted that the national attention already focused on the Franklin Pride vote could intensify and create an even larger spotlight on the city.
“[If] we deny that event, that’s no longer a six-hour event in that park, this is filling up our main streets with protests, with who knows what they want to bring from a national level,” Brown said, calling the conversations around parents' choice in Franklin hypocritical. He urged the city to make a decision and “get on with city business.”
“I’m not going to take my kids there, but I’ve raised my kids,” Brown said. “So if you want to fight this battle then give it to God, get on your knees and pray and give it to God. Don’t lay it at [the] feet of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to solve a moral issue in this country. It’s an event permit, there’s only so much we can do with it.”
A little more than two hours into the meeting, the issue was tied at a 4-4 vote. Mayor Moore cast the deciding vote to approve the festival, albeit with a warning. “I think the worst thing that I’m seeing tonight is that there is division within our community,” he said.
“I consider that I’m giving you a lifeline on the event,” the mayor said, referring to a previous conversation he had with the festival organizers. “I’m going to work to make sure that if you violate the trust that we’re placing in you right now that I will work as hard as I work every single day that that event never happens in Franklin again.”
Franklin Pride President Clayton Klutts speaks during a public comments section of the April 11, 2023, Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting
Pride Organizers and Supporters React
“We’re pleased with the result, and we feel like they made the right decision as a board,” Franklin Pride President Clayton Klutts told Scene sister publication The News, adding that the large crowds in the BOMA chamber and throughout Franklin City Hall were civil and polite to each other throughout the meeting.
“We’re just ordering supplies and tents, and we’ve booked all of our entertainment and we’re getting organized and ready to go,” Klutts said.
Among the attendees of Tuesday’s meeting was Tennessee Equality Project executive director Chris Sanders, who told The News that the meeting was “as thorough a deliberation as one could possibly get.”
“This is another win this week in Tennessee,” Sanders said. “This will send a strong message that Pride definitely has a place in Tennessee, and despite the efforts of the state legislature, you can’t keep Pride down.”
Threats to Aldermen and Pride Safety Concerns
Following the meeting, Aldermen Hanson and Burger spoke with The News about threats they said they received leading up to Tuesday night’s vote.
Hanson said she received one phone call from a restricted or private number, with the caller saying, “You will be immortalized in death.” She says there were other messages with a “nasty, vile, threatening tone.” Burger said she received two phone calls, including one allegedly full of “hate speech.”
Hanson said she filed a police report with the Franklin Police Department, which she said resulted in extra police patrols near her home. Burger said that she notified Franklin City Administrator Eric Stuckey about the alleged threats, which she said he passed along to police. “I’m still waiting on the police department to call me back,” said Burger.
FPD spokesperson Ryan Schuman confirmed via email that Hanson had filed a police report regarding threats against her on March 22, but would not release any further information. As of April 12, Burger has not filed a police report.
Threats and safety concerns have also been on the mind of LGBTQ commmunity members and advocates in the recent months as a string of white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ vandalism incidents have taken place across the region.
In January, right-wing activist group Turning Point USA held its so-called “Teens Against Gender Mutilation Rally” in Murfreesboro. The event drew both LGBTQ-rights supporters and members of far-right hate group the Proud Boys, some of whom displayed Nazi imagery made out of the colors of LGBTQ flags. Proud Boys also faced off with protesters during an anti-trans rally held on Nashville’s Legislative Plaza in October. The event was organized by right-wing media personality Matt Walsh and featured remarks from U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, state Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and state House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland).
In summer 2022, hate group White Lives Matter protested Franklin’s Juneteenth festival.
When asked if they had an concerns that right-wing extremist groups could target Franklin Pride with disruptions or violence, both Burger and Hanson dismissed the idea. They instead expressed concerns that “outside agitators” could “sabotage” Franklin Pride in an “inside job” operation, as Burger put it, with a staged hate crime against the LGBTQ community that could be blamed on those who oppose the festival.
Burger said she didn’t believe that such an act would be perpetuated by Franklin Pride or Williamson County’s LGBTQ community members. She is instead concerned about “national Pride organizations,” and said that local law enforcement monitors potential threats to the community.
Burger also told The News that “the last four shootings have been by transgender people,” and that “the transgender community has been calling for violence.” Both of those statements are false. The alleged perpetrator of Monday’s mass shooting in Louisville, Ky., was a cisgender man.
When asked what specific shootings she was referring to besides the March 27 Nashville Covenant School shooting, which police said was committed by a 28-year-old who identified as a transgender man, Burger couldn’t cite specific incidents. She referred to them broadly as “national shootings in different places.”
Klutts told The News that they will be working with FPD to ensure a safe festival.
This article first appeared via our sister publication, The News.
