LGBTQ+ protestors who recently attended a Ron DeSantis presidential event claim they were physically abused by staff and attendees for holding up a rainbow flag during the speech.
The governor has been viewed by many as the Republicans' culture war candidate, due to various anti-LGBTQ legislation pertaining to K-12 education, book bans and his public spats with Disney that have resulted in litigation.
Protesting turning into violence is not entirely uncommon at campaign events. One protester was purportedly punched and kicked at a Donald Trump rally in 2016 before being escorted out, according to NBC News. However, research by the U.S. Crisis Monitor showed a higher rate of violence and instability leading up to the 2020 election, due to the infancy of the COVID-19 health crisis, the death of George Floyd, and Black Lives Matter protests.
DeSantis, who is perceived as arguably Donald Trump's biggest challenger in the 2024 race, made a campaign stop on Monday at the Philip T. Glennon Community Center in Tega Cay, South Carolina. More than 800 attendees reportedly showed up and scoured 80-degree heat hours in advance, according to The Charlotte Observer.
Two of the three activists who reported being abused were Claire Jost and Will Sander, both 19 years old and from the Charlotte area. The pair were in attendance Monday and spoke to Newsweek about what they experienced.
The third member, Sander's 16-year-old sister, did not want to be interviewed.
Jost, who is queer, and Sander said they attended because they wanted to stand up for what they believe in. They had tickets and reserved seats like everyone else, they said, and arrived before DeSantis ever took the stage.
They congenially conversed with others, who they called "very polite until we pulled out our flags."
Stationed near the stage, to DeSantis' right, they stood up and pulled out large Pride flags when DeSantis had just begun his speech.
Video published by The Daily Mail shows a tussle ensuing between Jost, Sander and members of the crowd and DeSantis' staff, prior to the pair being escorted out of the event while members in attendance stood and cheered in support of their removal.
"I remember when we held up the flag, someone grabbed me on the shoulder," Jost said. "I turned around, I'm being surrounded. They're shouting everywhere. People are yelling, 'Shame on you, shame on you' and trying to take it away from me.
"I felt someone grab me from behind and, like, multiple people were trying to push me to the ground. I got kicked; I actually have some small bruises. I'm glad I wore heavy pants."
Photos provided by Jost to Newsweek, which were requested not to be published, showed multiple bruises on her legs, but Newsweek could not verify the source of the bruises.
Some of those people grabbing at the rainbow flag were Moms for Liberty members, according to media outlet Florida Politics, who are staunch conservatives and quoted Hitler's in a newsletter, which was then altered after receiving complaints.
Once DeSantis became aware of what was happening, he reportedly injected the culture wars and "woke ideology."
"We don't want you indoctrinating our children!" DeSantis shouted, according to The Post and Courier, as attendees stood and raucously cheered. "Leave those kids alone."
Jost described it as "such an excessive use of force." Sander said he was kicked by others and "violently dragged down stairs."
"These are my neighbors," said Sander, who has lived in nearby Fort Mill since elementary school. "I've lived in this community since I was in second grade. I know several of them personally. I've spoken with them...like, it's kind of horrifying to see how quickly you're dehumanized."
His sister, who is in a wheelchair, was also escorted from the room. Sander claimed that staffers allegedly insisted that she get out of her wheelchair and walk before a local sheriff pushed her out of the vicinity.
Jost and Sander called DeSantis' words regarding children empty rhetoric, "hypocritical and superficial" as they were forced to leave.
"The thing that we want to emphasize is the reaction to what we did because we have a Pride flag, which ostensibly is not political, right," Sander said. "It's an identity. If we were effectively dragged out and kicked and cursed out by this mob and if it had been an American flag, the reaction would have been entirely different."
He added: "I know a lot of DeSantis voters, they seem to be good Christian people. This is a family neighborhood. But how quickly those same people were willing to turn against children that they've watched grow up in their neighborhood, just because they held a Pride flag."
Newsweek reached out to both the DeSantis campaign and the Mecklenburg County Republican Party for comment.
