“Mr. Mayor, if your goal is to ensure that all voices in our community are represented, you should speak out against the silencing of this segment of the local community,” said the woman.
“I think this is a reasonable decision for a public venue. I wish well the event and attendees, but this performance (stage names, etc.) is too adult for a children’s activity. Thank you, mayor and festival committee,” replied another parent, who was supportive of the move to cancel the event.
Gilbert eventually locked the replies to the thread due to arguments between members of both camps, who devolved into personal attacks and calling each other “groomers” or “homophobes.”
“Therefore, effective June 6th at 10:20 am, I will be disabling comments on this post after several days of observing hate speech on this post,” he told the public.
“Despite the misinformation represented throughout the comments above, I will continue to love all members in our community as represented in the Pride proclamation that I was the first mayor of Apex to sign,” the mayor said. “I have very close family members of the LGBTQIA+ community who I love dearly.”