A Kansas man was charged Tuesday for making threats to bomb a Nashville pride event, federal prosecutors announced.
Joshua Hensley was charged with two counts of transmitting an interstate threat. In two separate Facebook comments from April, Hensley said he would commit a mass shooting and build pressure cooker bombs for the Nashville Pride Festival & Parade scheduled for this weekend.
“We will not tolerate hate-based, threats of violence designed to intimidate Tennesseans,” U.S. Attorney Henry Leventis said in a statement. “We will continue to work with our partners at the FBI to ensure that the civil rights of all persons are protected.”
Hensley was arrested last week at his home in Hoisington, Kansas, in the rural central portion of the state. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
This year’s Pride Month has been marred by threats of violence. Many communities across the country have reduced or canceled Pride celebrations as LGBTQ individuals have become increasing targets for harassment and physical violence in recent years.
“This is the roughest year I’ve ever had,” Vanessa Rodley, organizer of Mid-South Pride in Tennessee, told The Hill last month. “More stressful than COVID.”
“It’s very scary, and we’re nervous, but we do it for our community,” she added, “because our community deserves it.”
Last year, a string of assaults by right-wing extremists at Pride events marked a spike in anti-LGBTQ violence in recent decades.
States including Florida and Texas have also passed numerous pieces of legislation aimed at limiting drag performances, popular among the LGBTQ community, and preventing gender-affirming care for transgender people.
LGBTQ issues have become a key part of the “culture war” in conservative politics, with conservatives going after companies who feature LGBTQ people in advertisements or display Pride flags or other symbols.