A small group of what two organizations described as “neo-Nazis carrying tiki torches” showed up Saturday at the Toledo Love Fest on Adams Street and later at the Jewish Federation of Greater Toledo parking lot in Sylvania Township.
The group briefly arrived at Love Fest on Saturday at about 3:30 p.m. — when the celebration was set to begin — then returned at 8 p.m. and stayed for almost 30 minutes, said Joe Wood, chairman of the Equality Toledo board of directors, the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization that hosted the gathering.
Mr. Wood, who was present at the festival, estimated about 400 to 500 event attendees were present when the small protest group showed up at 8 p.m., and dozens of people quickly departed, especially those with children.
“They were completely masked, black masks with red shirts and black pants and sunglasses,” Mr. Wood said Monday. “One of the leaders was unmasked and had a bullhorn, and he led certain chants as they formed a line formation on the sidewalk of 13th [Street]. And they formed a straight line and did honestly what looked like Heil Hitler salutes.”
“Our response was really to turn around to ignore them, and to continue celebrating our diversity,” he said.
Toledo police were in the area working foot and bike patrol, said Lt. Paul Davis, a department spokesman. He estimated the group protested for about 10 to 15 minutes and then departed.
Brent Rabie, Equality Toledo’s deputy director, said "the musicians turned the music up and kept our attendees away and from [the group] and I think they got bored and left.”
“Once the group started walking away, we all cheered and people got back up in front of the stage and started dancing because we're not going to let hate and Nazi groups stop us from celebrating who we are and having a great time,” he added.
Sylvania Township Police Chief Paul Long said the neo-Nazi group then headed to the Jewish Toledo campus in Sylvania Township, but no one was there when group members arrived at about 9:30 p.m.
After apparently not getting a reaction at the Love Fest event, the group had tried something else, but it didn’t work.
“I don’t know who they thought would be there, or what. But there wasn’t a car in the parking lot,” Chief Long said.
A police sergeant told the group of about 18 that they could not protest in the parking lot because it was private property, so the group moved to the sidewalk. But they only stayed about five minutes, Chief Long said.
“It was a joke, honestly — they were so pathetic and unorganized,” he said. “It was a complete nonevent.”
Daniel Pearlman, vice president of community and government relations at the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Greater Toledo, confirmed no events were taking place on the campus that evening.
“We're in touch with many other community partner organizations, different religious minorities, different racial and ethnic minority organizations, different social justice organizations,” Mr. Pearlman said. “When we first heard about this happening, first at Equality Toledo's event and then on our own campus, we started to reach out to some of them.”
He said the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo in Perrysburg was informed, police patrol was increased there, but that the group did not show up at the mosque.
“We’re stronger than hate,” Mr. Pearlman said, commenting that working together “proves that there’s no place for hate in Toledo.”
The Jewish Federation of Greater Toledo issued a statement that said, in part, that it is “stronger than hate,” and that it is “united with our partners in the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to be silent in the face of baseless hatred.”
Equality Toledo added in a statement: “We know that white supremacy and anti-LGBTQ+ ideology have a long history of working together to attack our communities. When one marginalized community is targeted, we are all targeted. When one community is dehumanized, we all lose our humanity.”
Both groups thanked local law enforcement for helping protect their respective communities.
The neo-Nazi group has not been publicly identified.
After recently consulting with city officials, Mr. Wood said Equality Toledo knew that it was likely that the protest group would show up.
“We've done this event for six years,” he said. “And this is the first time we've had to plan and actually manage a group such as the Nazis coming.”
Since about a year ago, he said his organization has spent three times more time than before on security measures.
“The occurrence of Nazis at our event, while surprising, is evidence of the daily struggle that our LGBT community is facing with violence ... We do believe that part of why they came is because they feel encouraged by the culture war in our community these days,” Mr. Wood said.
In May, a group of neo-Nazi protesters came to a drag brunch fund-raiser event in Columbus. Another anti-drag protest occurred in March in Wadsworth, Ohio.
“This incident really shows that hatred toward one group can oftentimes lead to hatred toward another group or multiple different groups, and that's why it's so important for all of these minority organizations to stand together,” Mr. Pearlman said Monday.
“Regardless of one's identity, we all have to decide ‘What is the type of society we want to live in?’” he added. “Is it one where we all feel welcome and accepted and included? Hopefully the answer is yes. Certainly, we believe, the answer is yes.”
First Published July 17, 2023, 1:54 p.m.
