Two Door County businesses cancelled reservations for an event scheduled at their venues on Feb. 22. The event, billed as a roundtable discussion, was to be hosted by Gays Against Groomers (GAG) and moderated by Moms for Liberty (MFL). Representatives of both of those groups allege that threats to the businesses led to the cancellations. The businesses dispute that any threats were made against them or their employees.
GAG, a nonprofit established in 2023 and based in Bayside, Wis., is an organization that campaigns against gender-affirming care for minors, and protests against LGBTQIA+ themes or content in schools, among other activism.
MFL is also a nonprofit, established in 2022, and opposes schools teaching content with themes of LGBTQIA+ issues, race, gender and sexuality. The group initially organized around campaigning against Covid protocols and mask mandates in schools.
Both organizations have national leadership and local chapters in various locations around the country and an active social media presence.
GAG is considered a anti-LGBTQ+ extremist organization by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. MFL is classified as an anti-government extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center are both nonprofit organizations that provide legal advocacy for civil rights and anti-discrimination. Both organizations track and report on extremist movements and hate groups.
The groups’ event, titled “Survivors of Gender Affirming Abuse,” focused on gender-affirming health care for minors.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and the American Academy of Psychiatrists are a few of the leading medical organizations that support gender-affirming health care for transgender youth. It has been available in the U.S. for more than a decade.
According to representatives of the Lodge at Leathem Smith and Door County Boardwalk, though both Sturgeon Bay businesses did receive phone calls and messages from community members concerned about the event, they did not receive threats or experience any harassment.
“It is concerning to hear that local businesses were threatened for their involvement,” a representative of MFL said in an emailed statement Knock received on Feb. 22. On its Facebook page, GAG posted the following: “TWO venues have now canceled on us due to threats against the staff from rabid trans rights activists.”
The Lodge at Leathem Smith was the original, publicized location for the event. Milan Stosic is the general manager for the venue.
“No one threatened me,” Stosic said in a phone conversation on Feb. 20.
He said an “unnamed gentleman” called him after the event was booked and provided more information about the groups organizing the event.
“We always support nonprofits, schools and the community,” Stosic said. He referred specifically to a weekly bingo game the Lodge hosts, in which all proceeds go to a different local nonprofit organization. According to Stosic, more than 280 people attended the Lodge’s last bingo session.
“We decided that organization was going to draw too much negativity. It is not the right fit for us,” he said.
After their booking was cancelled by the Lodge, organizers rescheduled with Door County Boardwalk. The Boardwalk opened a year ago and encompasses several spaces, including an event venue, according to owner Steve Estes. The business initially donated its event space, called Gala, because event organizers said it was a nonprofit, Estes said.
The Boardwalk did receive a lot of phone calls and contact about the event, Estes said in a phone conversation on Feb. 24, but there were no threats made that he was aware of.
Estes said the situation was not one he wanted to “get in the middle of.” Though at the time he did not believe either group was a hate group, he said, “when you throw that word, hate group, you don’t want to be associated with it. We live in a town that is very diverse.”
“It opened our eyes to be concerned when folks ask for space,” he added.
In a follow-up conversation on Feb. 27, Estes said he has received some reactions to the event cancellation from community members, thanking him. He said he believed he made the right decision upon learning more about the groups involved.
According to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, the terms “groomer” and “grooming” relate specifically to sexual abuse and pedophilia. It defines grooming as “manipulative behaviors that the abuser uses to gain access to a potential victim, coerce them to agree to the abuse, and reduce the risk of being caught. While these tactics are used most often against younger kids, teens and vulnerable adults are also at risk.”
The terms are slurs, not insults or assertions, when used the way GAG and MFL use them, according to Timothy Squirrell, an expert in disinformation, extremism, LGBTQIA+ issues, misogyny and online harms.
Squirrell also is the director of communications and editorial for the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, an international organization that provides data analysis, research and policy advice to governments and organizations about extremism, polarization and disinformation.
GAG and MFL and similar organizations use the terms as a slur, Squirrell said.
“It is an attempt to denigrate and to dehumanize people based on their identity,” he said. He added that it is to some degree a criminal accusation as well.
No complaints of threats or harassment, police say
The event ended up being held at three smaller venues in Door County and livestreamed on social media, according to Jesse Simcox in a phone conversation on Feb. 23.
Simcox said he is chair of the Wisconsin chapter of GAG and established the Door County chapter.
“These conversations need to happen, but we are always getting canceled,” Simcox said.
A member of GAG has received a restraining order for harassment in Brown County. Simcox is being sued for libel by the owners of a business in Menomonee Falls after they said he threatened and harassed them over an LGBTQ+ event they planned to hold last fall. WTMJ-Milwaukee reported on the situation in December.
In response to those situations, Simcox said they have nothing to do with anything happening in Door County. He stated that it is actually people affiliated with local Pride organizations who are threatening and harassing his organization.
The Sturgeon Bay Police Department has received no complaints of threats or harassment, nor have charges been filed against any local Pride organization members by the businesses involved or anyone else, according to Police Captain Chad Hougaard.
“I gave him (Simcox) some general security advice, no different than I do for any other events or businesses,” Hougaard said.
Simcox called Door County LGBTQIA+ organizations like Open Door Pride a “fringe minority of activists representing us.” He said the Door County chapter of GAG is made up of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who “don’t have a mean bone in our bodies.”
Local LGBTQIA+ organizations respond
Owen Alabado is the leader of Northern Door Pride, a nonprofit established in 2022. The group hosts several events throughout the year to build community and promote self-acceptance, Alabado said.
“Gays Against Groomers thrives on conspiracy (and) lies, and they are hurting people. I was scared,” he said in a phone conversation on Feb. 19.
“Northern Door Pride is just trying to uplift the community, whether you’re gay, bi, trans or just feel different. Door County is a small community, and we might not be able to change the world, but we can make our community safe and raise our kids right,” Alabado said.
Alabado said Northern Door does not keep a record of members, but the organization’s event attendance demonstrates the support it has within the Door County community. The organization hosted its fourth annual cabaret show at Northern Sky’s Gould Theater in Fish Creek on Feb. 21.
“We had about 300 attendees,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of LGBTQ people here, but we are made up of predominantly allies.”
More than 80 local businesses donate prizes to or sponsor Northern Door Pride events, he added.
PFLAG of Sturgeon Bay-Door County is the local chapter of the national nonprofit advocacy group founded and led by families and friends of LGBTQIA+ people.
Sandy Brown is treasurer of the local chapter.
“PFLAG Door County is here to support those trans folks who feel threatened by these events that seek to erase the reality trans people experience,” Brown said in an emailed statement.
PFLAG does not require paid membership to join, and it has 223 subscribers to its newsletter, Brown said.
Cathy Grier is the chair and founder of Open Door Pride, a nonprofit that hosts an annual Open Door Pride festival in Sturgeon Bay and supports and advocates for LGBTQIA+ people.
Open Door Pride also does not have members like many nonprofits do, Grier said, but “we know that we have county-wide support. … From all that I have witnessed since forming Open Door Pride in 2017 and the success which we continue to see, I could never classify the work we do as fringe.”
As far as Open Door threatening or harassing anyone, Grier said, “You’re going after a Pride organization; who have we hurt? In nine years, who have we hurt?”
When Grier heard the event was happening after someone forwarded the publicity flyer to her, she said she encouraged those who were opposed or with her organization to attend and listen and ask questions, but “not to be a disruption.”
Once Grier and others found out a second location was booked after the Lodge canceled, she said she encouraged people to call the business and put pressure on them.
Labeling Open Door or any other local Pride organizations as bullies or people who want to harm children is wrong, Grier said.
“The things that GAG and MFL are purporting that we do is insidious,” Grier said in an email. “It’s harmful, hurtful, and dangerous to state, and yes slanderous, and needs to stop. Who actually is hurt when we thrive? When groups like these pronounce with confidence and without proof, that we are what they call groomers of innocent children, then we have to stand up and question them. And yes we should also question businesses that would host such an event. We are encouraged that so many friends and allies within the community spoke out loud and clear.”