A Pride Month rally near Lexington last weekend nearly turned deadly as armed bigots showed up and broke up the proceedings.
On June 3, Hensley and Osborne say they and about six other people set up in downtown Corbin with signs and chairs to support Pride and the LGBTQ community.
“It was just to inspire change and help people be confident,” Hensley said.
Things turned more aggressive that afternoon when Osborne said two men approached, one on a motorcycle and the other in a car. He said the men flipped the group off and proceeded to pull over and approach them.
“They began spouting slurs and hateful slander. The F-slur was said on multiple occasions, when the two men approached they each had their hands on their guns which were hidden in their pockets,” Osborne recalled.
Osborne said he confronted them about the weapons. One of the men pulled a card from his pocket, which Osborne said he recognized as a “KKK card.”
“They even proudly proclaimed to be homophobic, and racist,” Osborne said. “At one point the man who pulled his weapon later in the altercation looked at me and said ‘I’ll burn you and that sign.’”
The situation escalated further when the man allegedly put his card in Hensley’s face, and they began to slap each other’s arms until the man unholstered his weapon and put it down by his side. Both Hensley and Osborne said they began to yell out for help, and police arrived shortly thereafter.
In video footage of the incident, Hensley appears to shout expletives at the men and flip them off.
According to Osborne, the police demanded the man drop his weapon and confiscated both men’s firearms, one of which was not in a holster and was hidden in his shorts pocket. Police allegedly took the guns apart and removed the bullets that “were in the chamber and ready,” Osborne said.
“The police then do an investigation to find out what is happening, then ask us to leave as we have no permit, and they escort the men to their vehicles, giving their weapons back and sending them off,” he recalled.
The men in the video have not been publicly identified. Corbin police did not return phone calls Thursday afternoon to address the incident or whether anyone had been charged. The Corbin mayor was not immediately available for comment either.
The cops told the rally-goers to leave. It wasn't an issue of course until the two openly armed bigots showed up with loaded guns and the intent to harm people.
Oh, and cops gave the terrorists -- because that what this was, terrorism -- their firearms back.
Nobody was hurt this time. Next time it may be another mass shooting.
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