The LGBTQ+ community in a small town in North Carolina is navigating the fallout from a Pride celebration that they originally described as a “takeover.”

At least one local official and other residents in Newton, North Carolina, pop. 13,000, apparently took the title, “Newton Pride Takeover 2025,” literally.

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Organizers initially announced a list of events under the banner on Facebook two weeks ago—a small festival, a drag show, a networking event, and a “queer karaoke” night, all on private property.

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But then Newton City Council member Jon McClure posted an anti-trans video and commented, “I’ll stand by my stance against Trans and +. What you or I prefer in our bedrooms shouldn’t be celebrated or forced in public.”

McClure’s post sparked a flurry of “nasty” comments from locals, said MacGregor VanBeurden, leader of the LGBTQ+ Democrats of Catawba County, organizers of the event.

“That’s when it got really nasty and a lot of people I think felt emboldened by that,” VanBeurden told the Charlotte Observer about McClure’s comments. “So we got a lot of hate, a lot of bad comments, and then our businesses started pulling out from the event. There were some really serious things said and it’s really blown up in the last week.”

“It doesn’t sound like a love-filled parade gathering for multiple businesses downtown,” one Facebook reply read. “Instead, it sounds like a Hostile Democratic Takeover is going to take place.”

Local bar Pour Choices, slated to host the queer karaoke night, pulled out, VanBeurden said. So did boutique Emporium 23.

Looking to save the event from more defections, the LGBTQ+ Democrats rebranded the Pride “takeover” as the “Newton Rainbow Celebration.”

That seemed to satisfy several businesses that had pulled out under pressure. Emporium 23, for one, is back, along with other downtown shops and services.

The name change even earned a thank you from council member McClure.  

“Obviously I haven’t personally experienced the wave of hate you’re referring too, other than some name calling by those who have a difference of opinion; but I commend you for the name changing of the event and for recognizing that there is a better location for this event,” McClure said in a message to LGBTQ+ Democrats.

That qualified mea culpa came in response to an announcement of the name change by organizers, as well as a fiery takedown of those who tried to derail the event.

“I hope seeing such hate and threatening language in response to our event, from both our community and community leadership, has brought to light the deep-rooted hatred that exist[s] within Newton against our LGBTQ+ community,” VanBeurden wrote for the group.

He also called on supporters to turn out for the next Newton City Council meeting on May 6 “to speak and/or show your outrage against such deep-rooted hatred.”

Newton Mayor Jerry Hodge said in an interview that the city will allow people to speak about the issue during public comment like they would in any other meeting.

“One council member does not speak for the entire council, and that may have been perceived as the case, but it is not,” he said about McClure’s comments—without referencing the council member by name. “We’ll be prepared to conduct a civil meeting for our citizens… and we will conduct the meeting within the realm of respect and dignity for all who speak.”

VanBeurden said, “I think that the most effective way to make a change in any movement is to bring visibility and to show people that we exist and we exist outside of the big cities.”

“We exist in the middle of nowhere. We exist everywhere,” he added.

For the moment, the LGBTQ+ community won’t be visible at Pour Choices.

The local bar declined to rejoin downtown businesses in support of Newton’s Rainbow Celebration.

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