To the Editor:
Jack Coleman, along with his buddies Scott McGraw, Steve Carra, and Jerry Solis, have recently been engaged in a smear campaign directed at this Saturday’s Three Rivers Pride Festival. Mr. Coleman has been the most actively engaged in this debacle, so it is to his claims that this letter is directed. I intend to take his lies and attempts at manipulation point by point.
- Mr. Coleman’s first claim was to say that Huss Project employees were threatened with the loss of their jobs (this was later changed to a “Head Start” employee) for refusing to include a list of community events that included the Pride Festival. Mr. Coleman claimed that the program mandated attendance at the Pride Festival for area preschoolers in order to receive a special prize from the Huss Project at the end of the summer.
Screenshots of the actual Great Start program, provided by Mr. Coleman, depicted a flier noting all Three Rivers summer events, including four public community events, of which one was the Pride Festival. Children need attend only one of the events to receive this “stamp,” with no preference for any. - After being faced with a multitude of facts, Mr. Coleman then pivoted to attacking the drag queen group The Kunty Kittens, who, at the request of the Pride Committee in April, abbreviated their name to The Kittens for a more family friendly event. It goes without saying that a number of entertainers throughout their careers have embraced both family friendly and not-so-family friendly fare (*cough, cough* Robin Williams).
Despite clearly having no role in the matter, Mr. Coleman falsely attempted to take credit for the Kittens name change as a result of his Facebook tantrum. At the same time, he has and continues to slander the group, accusing them of grooming and indoctrinating children, and being pedophiles. Mr. Coleman was consistently reminded that the drag show is a ticketed event at 7 p.m., in addition to having been agreed to be a family friendly event. - At the same time, Mr. Coleman repeatedly attempts to incur outrage that one of the lower level sponsors of the event is Planned Parenthood. He claims that gays and lesbians can’t get pregnant so why would they need Planned Parenthood? (Nevermind that Planned Parenthood offers more than pregnancy services, and LGBTQIA+ individuals can and do have families and experience pregnancy).
Moreover, he claims because Planned Parenthood is at least partially funded by tax dollars, this extrapolates to the TR Pride Festival being a taxpayer-funded event. Of course, he has not provided evidence that any dollars given to the Pride Festival were tax dollars, as opposed to the substantial private contributions that the organization receives. And naturally, this argument has entirely ignored the fact that the Pride Festival sponsors have included a myriad of local businesses and individual donors, at levels much greater than that of Planned Parenthood. - Most recently, Mr. Coleman has made the dubious claim that there exist many “victims” that supporters of Pride are ignoring. There are no details on what these purported women are victims of or who victimized these individuals, or even where and when these individuals came to harm.
In addition to lies and manipulation, it needs to be stated that Mr. Coleman, in the same space as these homophobic and transphobic tirades, has posted a picture of Negan from The Walking Dead. The character is shouldering a baseball bat wrapped in barb wire. If you’re familiar with the show, you’d know that Neegan is a vicious man who brutally beats humans to death with this bat. The image claims that this is an appropriate treatment for pedophiles.
Who are the people Mr. Coleman has mischaracterized as pedophiles, and is ranting against? Trans individuals and drag performers. According to a study in the Journal of Hate Crimes, hate crimes against trans individuals increased 587% between 2013 and 2019. Yet, Mr. Coleman thinks this is an appropriate form of action against our trans friends.
When asked his stance on the numerous instances of religious-based sexual abuse of minors, he repeatedly refrains from commenting. Rather, he consistently pivots from direct questions by asking the individual if they support pedophiles! The inference was that, if you support the Pride Festival and drag performers, you support pedophiles.
Mr. Coleman has erroneously accused Watershed Voice of libel, despite directing libelous comments toward drag performers and Watershed Voice. He has taunted individuals he says have remained unblocked because they gain him more supporters. Despite repeated requests for him to reach out, he has not contacted the Pride Festival committee. Mr. Coleman has, however, whined that the First Presbyterian Church of Three Rivers and Centerville did not speak with him before coming out strongly against his lies and bigotry.
Over and over again, Mr. Coleman has proven to be more like a Pharisee, or even Aaron in the desert, creating the golden calf and bowing down to it, and less like Jesus welcoming Zaccheus into his fold. Mr. Coleman has projected, deflected, gaslit, moved the goalposts, played the victim, and outright lied again and again. But he’s gotten what he’s wanted: attention. An attempt at relevancy. And I admit, I’m giving him the attention of this piece because his words and actions are putting people I care about in danger.
I had been on the fence about attending Pride this Saturday. I generally spend that day cleaning and relaxing after a long work week. But love is love, and love is not weak. Love can be fierce and strong, a lighthouse in a storm. So I’ll be there, along with a number of my friends and members of the community who have vehemently and continuously have pointed out that the “emperor has no clothes.”
Come join us and celebrate our LGBTQIA+ friends and family in downtown Three Rivers, Saturday, June 24, for what’s sure to be a great day of fun and togetherness!
Amy Davidhizar
Cass County
Any views or opinions expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Watershed Voice staff or its board of directors.
