COLUMBUS, Ohio — A group of LGBTQ supporters confronted a Columbus police officer who was seen high-fiving a member of the Proud Boys who were protesting a story-time event featuring drag performers at a Columbus private school over the weekend.
“We saw you high-five these guys,” the woman says.
“Yes,” the officer responds.
The video shows a Sgt. Dyer with the Columbus Division of Police being confronted by a woman asking why he high-fived a member of the Proud Boys, which is a designated hate group.
“I’m not here to support their cause,” Sgt. Dyer says. “I’m here to support their right to protest.”
Sgt. Dyer tells the woman he understands how it looked, but says he was simply building relationships while protecting everyone’s right to protest.
“The thing is, you just don’t high-five a white nationalist,” Adam Sparks said. .
Sparks recorded the video that has since made its way around social media.
“Regardless what people might think about [the Proud Boys] or their views, they have the right to protest,” 10TV’s Bryant Somerville said to Sparks.
“They do,” Sparks said. “And, I do understand [Dyer’s] argument in saying that he is pro the First Amendment and pro allowing people to have that and I’m not against that. I don’t think anybody’s against that. It was just the simple fact of him high-fiving and building a relationship with a hate organization.”
Sparks says he knows the argument against the event was that some don’t agree with drag performers talking to children. He says during Saturday’s demonstrations members of Proud Boys were constantly yelling the word “pedophiles” to counter protesters.
“And that’s just not the case,” Sparks said. “The drag community is not a hyper sexualized community out there to get children to do terrible things.”
He says the event was to show love, kindness and inclusivity.
“There’s gay children,” Sparks said. “There are plenty of LGBTQ children that need to be represented and need to be able to see themselves represented in this community.”
Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant posted a video statement about the division's involvement in the incident here.