Reaching Higher

A right-wing influencer and a national traditional-Catholic group clashed with supporters of Higher Purpose Emporium on Saturday. The 3-year-old Northside metaphysical shop hosted a Pride fair in two parts: the first for LGBTQ+ children and their parents, the second for LGBTQ+ adults only. Right-wingers conflated the two, resulting in the few protesters and counterprotesters. Security hired by Higher Purpose owner Ivy Aranaught helped keep things at a low boil. Still, that didn’t stop the two sides from confronting each other.

Protect Texas Kids’ Kelly Neidert and the New Columbia Movement had been planning to protest Higher Purpose’s Pride fair for weeks (“Anti-Rainbow Coalition,” Sep 27), circling Aranaught and her business on the internet and in chat rooms.

For Aranaught, attention from the far right is nothing new. Since the Emporium opened, it has experienced everything from online threats to in-person ones.

“The very first Pride fair that we did, we had protesters come from, like, three different churches,” Aranaught remembered. “This guy was calling me and this 12-year-old girl a bunch of slurs, accusing us of being pedophiles.”

At one point, the man, whom Aranaught believes may have tied one on before taking to the streets, lifted his shirt to show off a pistol. When she asked if she was to interpret that as threat, the man flicked off the safety. Odd. Being so concerned for the health and well-being of children, you can only wonder why he decided to buck-up with a firearm. But reason isn’t extremists’ strong suit.

The small group of New Columbians arrived first, assembling in a line directly across the street from Higher Purpose. Without directly engaging with the attendees of the Pride fair, the New Columbia protesters spread out a banner stating simply, “We Want God” and, with one hoisting a New Columbia flag on his shoulders, began to pray the Rosary.

When asked why this particular prayer was used, one New Columbian said, “The prayer of the Rosary is, as Catholics, one of the most powerful spiritual weapons that we have. We genuinely believe in the power that it has to change things and to convert people. Events do get shut down. People do eventually come back to God, and that is what we want.”

While they were praying, one of the Pride event attendees took up a megaphone and announced that he was going to “roast these bigots.” From his place across the street, he took issue with the knot in a New Columbian’s necktie. A half Windsor? Try harder next time. High-waisted stone-washed jeans? Please.

Neidert, perhaps spurred on by the mockery of her “trashy $5 cowboy boots,” and her vanishingly small retinue of supporter (singular) were the first and only protesters to cross the street.

Then the cellphones came out, one in the hand of each protester. Both sides marched up and down the sidewalk in front of Higher Purpose, streaming live. Arguments over which side were the true protectors of children’s rights erupted. A counterprotester wearing a wide-brimmed red hat festooned with plastic devil horns was told he was going to hell. After a hearty laugh, he responded, “Do I look like someone who is afraid of hell?” A fair question.

A small group of Pride attendees chased Neidert up and down the sidewalk, using Pride flags to keep her from videoing any of the kids in the shop, fearing she would dox them.

“You need to get back on your lithium,” Neidert said to an attendee.

“Why don’t you worry about all those kids you don’t have, Kelly?” came a quick and cutting response.

After an hour of marching and bickering, Neidert and her co-protester retreated across the street. Banners were rolled up, flags were folded, videos were uploaded to social media, and the protest simply fizzled out.

During its short lifespan, Aranaught had remained inside running the Pride fair.

“I was raised in the church,” she said. “I was so in the church that I went to a private Christian school. I was in choir. I almost went to seminary. I remember how difficult it was for me to unpack that indoctrination and trauma. If any of [the Christian protesters] ever came in here and felt like they needed a place to belong, we would gladly do that. We are just trying to create an open space where kids or anyone can come and feel welcome and just be and exist and not have to be guarded.”

One of the New Columbia protesters, when asked what he and his group wanted, said they’re trying to create a place for “young men who are struggling to come together and create a fraternity,” where the young men can feel a sense of purpose.

At least both Aranaught and the trad Caths would seem to be in the same business then, that of offering healing and acceptance to those who feel lost and cast away, people reaching and scraping their way though life, people looking for help. Perhaps next time, there need be no protest at all. Perhaps next time, a simple conversation can be had.

This story reflects the opinions and fact-gathering of the author(s) and only the author(s) and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.