A massive grassroots effort is underway by parents, pastors, and community leaders in a Washington State town to protect local children from a planned LGBT “Pride” event and “drag” show aimed at sexualizing and confusing the town’s youth. The event has already been pushed back almost two months due to the massive public outcry and concerns from officials.

Amid the controversy in Arlington, a community of about 20,000 in Washington, activists committed to protecting children have gone door to door distributing thousands of flyers denouncing the upcoming event and warning parents of the danger. Pastors across the city and numerous businesses are warning the community to keep children away from the area, too.

Former State Senator Val Stevens, who is helping to organize what she describes as the “campaign to keep children safe from the seduction by provocateurs who would steal their innocence,” told The Newman Report that members of the community are horrified. And many are taking action in response.

“Several businesses in the town have committed to be closed on July 22, the day of the event, to allow their employees to escape exposure to the perversion,” said Stevens, adding that it was important to do background checks on all those “performers” who sought to reach children. The thousands of brochures featured images of men dressed as scantily clad women as a warning.

The powerful brochure developed by the activists has shown city officials that Arlington’s long-established community decency standards “will not be ignored,” continued Stevens. “The exhibit of males pretending to be female and acting out descriptions of ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, before children is depraved and unacceptable,” she added. “Such adaptations of debauched displays before children, is a snare of the fowler who would place unnatural images in the minds of children and will not be endured.”

The former Senate leader, who served in the Washington legislature for two decades, also blasted last year’s Pride spectacle in a letter to the mayor in May. “Families deserve to be protected from the exploitation of children, and children deserve a wholesome opportunity to be safe from seduction by deviants,” she said. “We ask that you do not allow men, pretending to be female, to perform in Arlington’s public square.”

The “pride” event in Arlington comes as similar gatherings in other parts of the state and the nation have featured naked men exposing their genitalia to children. At a major “pride” event in New York, half-naked self-proclaimed “queer” marchers chanted that they were “coming for your children,” sparking international condemnation and major concerns among those who battle child abuse and exploitation.

Pride organizers are pretending to be concerned about security threats and are asking government to restrict gun rights around the event. However, city officials told the press that law enforcement has not received any credible threats of violence related to the “Pride” event.

Mayor Barbara Tolbert has tried to play both sides of the fence, telling community leaders she did not support a drag event for children while still issuing a “pride” proclamation celebrating LGBTism. The city of Arlington is committed to “creating an environment that is inclusive and equitable, and free from discrimination and harassment, and desires opportunities to celebrate the growing diversity in our city,” the proclamation said.

The pushback seen in Arlington could serve as a model for other communities horrified by the relentless push of homosexual and transgender special interests nationally to flaunt their lifestyles and recruit children. While organizers and attorneys claim a First Amendment-protected right, critics do not believe grooming children with perverted sexual themes is legitimate free speech.

More and more Republican-controlled states are taking measures to protect children from public displays of sexual perversion, pornography in books, indoctrination in government schools, and even castration. Some “pride” parades in Florida were cancelled due to a law protecting children from “drag” performances.

Obscenity, perversion, grooming, and sexualizing children are not free speech, regardless of what rogue federal courts and groomers might say. Society has an obligation to protect children from perverts.

It is time for state and local governments to do their job and stop tolerating this evil — especially when it has the most innocent in the crosshairs.

Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?

David Fiorazo recently discussed the necessity of Bible-believing Christians not remaining silent on the issue of protecting children:

The godless are grinding down public morality and dragging children down with them. Lord have mercy!

Jesus sent his church on a mission to save souls and equipped believers with the Holy Spirit to get the work done. Paul wrote about the importance of prayer and putting on the full armor of God, using our offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. 

Silence hasn’t worked. Ignoring evil in society has not caused it to go away. The church has lost important battles and the country is teetering in many ways. Assuming we truly love our neighbors and believe in protecting children from evil, we have work to do. They need us to take biblical stands and speak up as often as necessary.

The enemy is evangelizing children and working to gain converts. Look at how successful they are at making disciples who reject Jesus and the Christian worldview.