Jess Peacock
The Community Church of Chesterland was vandalized Saturday morning. Rev. Jess Peacock, its pastor, believes it was caused by members of anti-drag hate groups.
The Community Church of Chesterland, one of the venues set to host a drag event in the community on April 1, was vandalized over the weekend, its leader, Rev. Jess Peacock, said.
Peacock, who's been the head pastor at CCC since 2021, told Scene that they believe molotov cocktails were thrown at the church's front-facing steel wall early Saturday morning. Along with damage to outdoor lighting fixtures, Peacock said CCC's front signage was "destroyed with a sledgehammer."
"It was pounded pretty good," Peacock said. "Fortunately, it was raining Friday leading into Saturday, so I take it that helps tamp down the flames. So I guess it could've been a lot worse."
The combined Drag Brunch & Story Hour events, which will be hosted at Peacock's church and at the Element 41 restaurant in Chardon on Saturday, have been targeted for protest by the Proud Boys and other extremist groups and subject to online transphobic outrage.
By labeling drag performers and their supporters as "pedophiles" or "groomers"—a red herring tactic used since 2020—such extremist groups, said Mallory McMaster, the activist founder of the Fairmount Group, are rallying up illegitimate support for far-right causes ahead of the 2024 national election.
"They did this with abortion. They did this with immigration. They attempted to do this with climate change. They did this with the Black Lives Matter movement," McMaster, an LGBTQ activist who organized the Element 41 brunch, told Scene. "And it's the same hate groups with the same hateful message that you see jumping from movement to movement."
No specific group took responsibility for the damage done to Peacock's church, but both the reverend and McMaster believe it may be one of the white supremacist groups known to show up—armed and seething—to Ohio drag events.
A March 13th protest against drag at Wadsworth Memorial Park, where two people were arrested after a brawl erupted amidst the 300 attendees, was known to be spearheaded by neo-Nazis and the Ohio Proud Boys, a faction of the "Western chauvanist" group declared a terrorist organization by Canada and New Zealand.
The Proud Boys of Cleveland disavowed responsibility for Saturday's act of vandalism, according to their public Telegram page, which is littered with chauvinist memes and messages downplaying the incident.
"Looks like wind damage to me," a Proud Boys member posted Sunday, captioning a photo of CCC's destroyed signage. "[McMaster] is getting desperate."
No arrests have been made.
McMaster herself is unswayed.
Emboldened, she said, from nine years organizing Pride In The CLE, McMaster said she'll be walking into Saturday's event with thick skin. She said she's beefed up her own personal security, and has been in talks with Chief Scott Niehus of the Chardon Police Department to ensure every attendee walks away Saturday unharmed.
The point, both McMaster and Peacock urged, was to go on with the events. Giving in to the fear, they said, is not an option, though it's hard to avoid the feeling.
"It's a fine line to walk, at least for me," Peacock said. "It's, 'What can we do to be more secure but without losing our ethos and our sense of openness and inviting to the community?'"
"I'm scared," McMaster told Scene. "This is probably the most scared I've ever been."
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