Bozeman Pride celebrates queer joy despite hateful protesters - by Nora Shelly

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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This is a truly astonishing "news" article replete with glaring bias and unashamed advocacy. This "journalist" egregiously takes sides, totally transparent as to who she likes and doesn't like. 

Even worse, it reads like a junior high essay. Professional journalists simply don't write things like "...and things at Bozeman Pride rolled on as planned. Attendees strolled up and down Main Street, stopping into stores and chatting with each other" in news articles. 

This woman should be fired.

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The crowd at Bozeman Pride dances to drown out white supremacist, homophobic protesters.
Nora Shelly

Dozens of people celebrated LGBTQ+ pride and community in downtown Bozeman on Saturday, and drowned out hateful ("Hateful." Pejorative statement of opinion, not fact.)

protesters with dancing, chanting and joy. ("Joy." Pejorative statement of opinion, not fact. Ms. Shelly is doing her best to puff up the Pride people.)

This week marked the first formal pride event in Bozeman in over a decade. There were events like an allyship workshop and queer comedy show leading up to the main event on Saturday.

Crowds gathered at the Bozeman Public Library on Main Street in the morning, where they heard from organizers with the drag performer group The Countship of the Imperial Sovereign Court of the State of Montana, (A leftist hate group.)

Bozeman Mayor Cyndy Andrus and others.

Andrus said Bozeman is focusing on being inclusive, but has a ways to go.

“It is on all of us to stand together and stand strong to ensure the promise of equality, dignity and protection for everyone,” Andrus said. “So let’s celebrate today, let’s celebrate our progress.” (Ms. Shelly will quote only one side.)

Tierney Hula, who is trans, spoke about his ("His?" Is this "his" preferred pronoun?)

experience in Bozeman and dealing with hate, discrimination, and recent legislation affecting trans and LGBTQ+ people in Montana and elsewhere. Though that weighs heavy on him, Hala said the local trans and queer community has lifted him up.

“I have hope that someday I, and my trans siblings, and the trans people that follow us can someday live in a Montana, or even a world, that truly loves and values and empowers us to live as the vibrant, loving and diverse people that we are,” Hala said. (Ms. Shelly will quote only one side.)

After the speakers wrapped up, the crowd dispersed throughout downtown for a block party, resource fair, drag story hour and deals and specials at local businesses.

About an hour into the event, as community organizations gathered at Soroptimist Park, a group of about 20 white supremacists (Pejorative statement of opinion, not fact.)

showed up and started chanting hateful, (Pejorative statement of opinion, not fact.)

anti-LGBTQ+ statements at the crowd. Many of them had their faces covered and held signs with racist and homophobic slogans. (Pejorative statement of opinion, not fact.)

Many pride attendees simply ignored them, or tried to block them from the rest of the park. (This is simply inept writing. As written this would mean "many" attendees either ignored them or didn't ignore them.

A what exactly did some of them do to try to block them from the park? The park is a public space owned by the City of Bozeman, so we wonder how someone can be denied entry.)

Alotta Shadow — an organizer of the event going by her drag name — said they were bothered by the protesters, but resolved to continue with the event. (What follows is play-by-play accounting of the events, written like a teenage girl would describe a day at the mall.)

“I think it’s ridiculous to have people’s safety put at risk simply for being themselves,” Shadow said. “It’s unfortunate, it’s a reality. But we’re queer, we’re here, we’re not going away, and we will not be silenced. And we’ll be here for the rest of eternity.” (Ms. Shelly will quote only one side.)

The protesters eventually headed west down Main Street, where they started chanting outside the block party.

The majority of people ignored them there, too, (So they weren't ignored. 

and drowned them out by singing and dancing to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” (They drowned them out, but a bit later Ms. Shelly will write, despite the noise outside. So apparently they didn't drown them out.)

In front of the Country Bookshelf bookstore, where a drag story hour was scheduled, attendees chanted, “We’re here, we’re queer.” 

Several police officers were on scene, but largely stayed out of the fray. (What "fray?" A fray is a disorderly or protracted fight, struggle, or dispute. It takes two parties to engage in a fray, but the protestors were ignored, remember? Again, this is supposed to be a professional journalist writing.)

Inside the bookstore, children and adults listened to the drag story hour, which Emi Lim Morison, an events coordinator with the store, said went well despite the noise outside. Lim Morison said from inside, the pride chants were louder than the hateful ones. (Pejorative statement of opinion, not fact. 

So there were dueling chants, which was the "noise outside." Again Ms. Shelly confuses the activities of the parties involved. One wonders what really happened.

And how happy it makes us to learn that the story hour went well despite this.)

After it was over, Lim Morison said it felt like a “win.”

“It was a really fun event … it was really exciting to see that everyone really seemed to enjoy it,” Lim Morison said. (Ms. Shelly will quote only one side.)

Later, one person was sprayed and struck by members of the protester group after engaging with them, though it is unclear who the person was and why the altercation happened. (Ms. Shelly is a journalist, but can't be bothered to find out what actually happened. We would guess that the protestor was "engaged" by being attacked and responded with pepper spray or some such thing. 

Because this is a puff piece, Ms. Shelly is obligated to minimize contrary information.)

An ambulance responded and treated the man.

The protesters dispersed after 1:30, and things at Bozeman Pride rolled on as planned. Attendees strolled up and down Main Street, stopping into stores and chatting with each other. (Hmmm. This is clearly the work of a professional journalist...)

At the block party, the crowd cheered and danced in support of a family-friendly drag show — which included one performer revealing a shirt printed with the words “I am not a crime.”

Anita Shadow, another organizer, said during a family-friendly drag show (It's important for us to know it was a "family friendly drag show," because she tells us more than once that it was a "family friendly drag show." We then would wonder what sort of drag show would not be "family friendly," because there are apparently more kinds of drag shows. 

It seems to us that every drag show in the country is always "family friendly.")

at the block party that they were not deterred. (What courage!)

“This is Bozeman’s first annual pride, we will be back for the foreseeable future. You can’t get rid of us that easily,” Shadow said. “In some of the toughest times, we stood up and we made it.” (Ms. Shelly will quote only one side.)

Nora Shelly can be reached at 406-582-2607 or nshelly@dailychronicle.com.