Fash Fall Flat in Media, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg, PA

The anti-LGBTQ+ crowd have been catching hell across the country for weeks now and Pennsylvania is joining in on the fun!

Innocent Bystander

Several Fashy/Far-Right events have attempted to establish themselves across the state in the last week and things did not go well for them. Scott Presler cancelled in the Philadelphia suburb of Media; TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) were successfully countered in Pittsburgh; and a puny Right-Wing rally cloaked as a “gun rights” event at the State Capitol imploded.

Professional concern troll Scott Presler, former lead strategist for the Islamophobic ACT for America, and credibly accused of urban “clean-up” stunts involving improperly removing houseless people’s personal property, was due to be with Media Borough Republicans at the local VFW and Delaware County GOP headquarters for “voter training” and “door-knocking” on Sept. 9th and 10th. 

But a federal action to serve up to 50 search warrants or subpoenas or both to people of interest regarding the January 6th, 2021 insurrection effort was disclosed just before his weekend events. Presler quickly cancelled. The local GOP cited “complications” regarding his “health.” However, late last year, Presler communication information has been in sought in other House Select Committee subpoena targets. Perhaps he felt the need to be around. 

Next, Pittsburgh and the community response to a TERF event that came to City Hall on September 11th resulted in a route.  PGH Fashwatch succinctly explains what happened here:

Finally, there’s the failed right-wing “gun rights” rally at the State Capitol in Harrisburg on Sept. 12th, the first session day after the legislative summer break. There were more legislative attendees than rally-goers. Retiring state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe openly complained that would-be rally-goers were afraid of being identified as Jan. 6th, 2021 insurrection participants.  

Fash-friendly state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz gave remarks that were fairly typical and involved theocratic justification for guns. Here’s the video.

However, not to be outdone, state Rep. Chris Rabb, a Black lawmaker who represents Northwest Philadelphia, stumbled upon the event on his way to the legislative session and began live-streaming and narrating. His take-downs were crisp and brutal, and he openly called Rep. Metcalfe a “White Supremacist.” The over seventeen minute item is here. 

Events of these types will continue. There will be an anti-abortion march in Harrisburg next week, and the GOP candidate for Pennsylvania governor is holding an event in an inner ring suburb of Philadelphia later this week. We must keep watching and more.