Seth Compton, the founder of OutLoud North Bay, said he received a barrage of hate mail in his email inbox and on his social media accounts after a popular US TikTok account learned the organization was planning a youth drag show. “And it had nothing to do with bringing in drag queens,” Compton said. “It wasn’t about adult entertainment or anything like that.” He said it was the young members of the organization who wanted to host their own drag show, among themselves, so they could express themselves in a safe environment. “I want to promote inclusion, love and acceptance in our space. And that’s what we’re doing,” said Compton, who came out as transgender four years ago and has made it his life’s goal to support young people who are going through the same thing. thing. “And it breaks me. I feel broken. I mean, to read some of these messages and I’m not just talking about a few, I got thousands.” Compton said that if he wasn’t currently in a healthy state of mind, the messages might have been enough to drive him to kill himself. Compton said a New York-based TikTok account initially targeted the event and encouraged followers to harass him and OutLoud’s social media accounts. When OutLoud North Bay officially opened its doors, volunteers put together packages to show support for LGBTQ youth, like these buttons. (Facebook – Outloud North Bay) “It promotes nothing but hate and exclusion of certain people and sends people to different events to shut them down,” he said. “It’s absolutely disgusting to go to this account and just look at what they’re promoting and how social media can allow such accounts to stay open.” Compton added that he reported the hateful messages to police and had to take additional security measures for the event.
Police take threats seriously
North Bay Police Service Det. Const. Stacy Jackson said police take online threats and hate mail “very seriously.” “We live in a free country where people have the right to express who they are and not be discriminated against based on race or ethnicity, your sexual orientation,” Jackson said. “And comments, especially threatening or hateful in nature, can be devastating to a person.” Jackson said the police department is meeting with OutLoud organizers to review the social media comments and investigate them. He said it can be a challenge to press charges, and if many comments come from the US, it could mean working with law enforcement in that country. “The challenge for our agency is to actually get that person behind that computer at the time those comments are made,” Jackson said. Possible charges could include death threats, threats against property and criminal harassment.
