August 31, 2023 11:15 AM UTC

No Thanks To "Tactical Support" From Haters

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• by: Colorado Pols

Following up on last weekend’s anti-LGBTQ+ counterprotest both outside and confrontationally within the Douglas County PrideFest, 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark reports that an organization known as Able Shepherd, which bills itself as a “progressive tactical training program,” played a large role in organizing the disruptive protest inside the event.

As a result, this organization with surprisingly formal ties to area law enforcement agencies is in the hot seat:

On Wednesday, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office told 9NEWS that Able Shepherd would no longer be participating in a planned event on Thursday. An Able Shepherd representative declined to say if law enforcement agencies were cutting ties with the company.

Able Shepherd issued a statement to media outlets on Wednesday simultaneously defending the protest’s aims while denying the company was involved…

Morally, we’d say that Able Shepherd was finished when they defended the protest in the abstract. But as for denying that the group was involved in organizing the event, that’s just false and 9NEWS has the receipts:

Law enforcement agencies charged with defending the whole community obviously should not be associated in any way with an organization that organizes protests targeting a certain segment of that community. Able Shepherd earlier this month jointly hosted a “church readiness planning seminar” with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office–the same law enforcement on hand last Saturday to help escort Able Shepherd protesters out of the DougCo PrideFest.

If this is the kind of organization “Able Shepherd” wants to be, it’s a free country. They’re called hate groups and the Southern Poverty Law Center keeps a list.

But not anywhere near tax dollars or bonafide public safety interests.