Gov. Evers Condemns Nazi Presence at Watertown LGBTQ Pride Event

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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers released a statement Monday condemning Nazis who protested an LGBTQ-focused “Pride in the Park” event in Watertown, Wisconsin, over the weekend. According to the Watertown Daily Times, a “dozen men sporting black tops and khaki pants, face coverings and sunglasses” appeared at an annual Watertown LGBTQ pride event on Saturday and “waved flags bearing the swastika symbol, gave the Nazi salute to onlookers and yelled homophobic rhetoric.”

The governor released the following statement:

“This is a disgusting and direct attack on our state’s LGBTQ community, communities of color, and Jewish Wisconsinites,” said Gov. Evers. “Nazis, swastikas, and any other anti-LGBTQ, white supremacist, or anti-Semitic messages, symbols, or groups are unacceptable and unwelcome in Wisconsin. Period.”

“I am especially alarmed that these individuals chose to disrupt, intimidate, and harass kids, people, and families who were attending a local Pride event aimed at celebrating and honoring the LGBTQ community,” Gov. Evers continued. “This is dangerous, hateful behavior, and it should be condemned in all of its forms and by every elected official at every level, and that includes all those who continue to push radical rhetoric, divisive legislation and litigation, and falsehoods and disinformation about the LGBTQ community—those words, those actions, and those policies have real and harmful consequences.”

“LGBTQ Wisconsinites deserve to be treated with dignity, decency, kindness, and respect just like every other Wisconsinite, and they deserve to be safe being who they are without fear or threat of shame, harassment, intimidation, or violence. I will continue to support and protect them.”

As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, a Holocaust survivor said that history is repeating itself and the recent attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

According to the FBI, the number of hate crimes reported in Wisconsin grew by 54 percent in 2021. According to supplemental data, hate crime incidents in 2021 rose to 10,840 incidents, the highest level recorded in more than two decades.

Also as previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, an Oak Creek man accused of defacing synagogue with Neo-Nazi symbols, group also targeted African Americans.