GOLDEN, Colo. — A local nonprofit organization called the Parasol Patrol is gaining national attention for its mission of helping escort youth into LGBTQ+ events.
“So, it started back in 2019," Eli Bazan, co-founder of the Parasol Patrol, began. "The owner of Mile High Comics was getting ready to host a monthly all-ages drag show. And leading up to that first event, we had all kinds of threats coming in that he shared with me. We had bomb threats, ‘We're gonna lock the door and burn us all inside’ — we had all kinds of horrible threats. So the very first event was in March of 2019. It was just me out there. I was doing my best to counter and just walk folks from their vehicles past protesters."
Bazan said the next month, at another all-ages drag show, the number of protesters doubled.
“I had a couple of parents that helped me out. And I came up with the ideas of using the umbrellas and ear protection. So what we started doing was using the rainbow umbrellas as shields to block the signs and faces of protesters for kids,” Bazan said.
Pasha Ripley, the other founder of the Parasol Patrol and Bazan’s life partner, said the more they escorted children to the events, the more requests they received.
“We started getting calls from libraries, even from a mayor of a suburb,” Ripley said. “Then we got a call asking us to come out and stand against the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. So that was our first out-of-state event.”
The Parasol Patrol now travels all over the country, using colorful umbrellas to shield kids from protesters with hundreds of volunteers by their side.
But Ripley said in some places, the protesters outweigh members of the patrol.
“By far, the scariest one was about three months ago in Wadsworth, Ohio,” Ripley said. “I actually wrote to our volunteers group, and said, 'If anything happens to me, or to us, will you please take care of my son?' Yeah, that was pretty, pretty intense.”
Ripley said the event was a drag queen story time being held at a park pavilion on March 11 of this year. Ripley estimated 400 protesters showed up.
"We've been doing this for a while. For four years, I've stood up against, I mean, all kinds of different protesters. From Proud Boys to Westboro Baptist Church, you know, and all that kind of stuff. I had never stood across from folks that were actively carrying a swastika flags,” said Bazan, who is also a U.S. Marine. "The Blood tribe, they were throwing Roman salutes… I'm used to people kind of hiding behind a little bit of facade of ‘I'm a racist, but I'm not an outright racist.' They kind of keep a little bit of that to themselves. This was, hoods were off. The 'n' word being tossed around constantly. I mean, that was a new level of hate. And also, we were in Ohio, so everybody was armed."
Bazan said at one point, someone pointed what appeared to be a gun at him.
“We got back to our room that night and kind of watched some of the video and I watched the guy pull the weapon on me and misfire twice,” he said.
But Bazan and Ripley said they won’t stop.
“We both grew up in rural areas. We're both people of color. We're both queer, and growing up in rural Oklahoma, an overweight Korean queer kid was not fun. And I would even go a step further and say we want to be the adults we wish we had — we want to be the adults we should have had,” Ripley said. “Our protesters are always saying 'You're trying to turn our kids gay, you're trying to turn our kids gay.' We're not trying to turn your kids gay. We're trying to keep the gay kids alive.”
Ripley and Bazan said they don’t get paid for what they do, and some days they put their lives on the line, but it’s worth it to be able to provide a safe space for kids.
