Members of the San Antonio chapter of Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) joined an armed right-wing crowd trying to shut down a drag event on December 13.

LCR claims to be the LGBTQ Republican Party affiliate, asserting that they are "moderate" in contrast to the anti-LGBTQ views in the rest of the Republican Party. Conservative Republican groups have largely distanced themselves from LCR, excluding them from party events.

According to both NPR and the San Antonio Report, LCR members have now aligned themselves with extreme right-wing anti-LGBTQ forces. Both news sources identified LCR as a participant in the unsuccessful effort to shut down a drag show on December 13.

The show, titled A Drag Queen Christmas, was billed as an all-ages event. Reportedly, the show features at least one reference to alcohol, but it does not include any nudity or sexually explicit acts, according to promotional material and videos of previous performances posted online.

Performers sing, lip-sync, and dance on extravagant sets wearing lavish costumes — "not unlike other drag shows that have taken place in San Antonio and other cities for decades," San Antonio Report noted.

Nevertheless, some 40 protesters gathered across the street from the theater in downtown San Antonio. Some were armed — although NPR reports that the armed protestors were "fewer than five."

According to reports, many were from the Texas Freedom Force, which the FBI identified as "an extremist militia group" after the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. Police occupied the street between the protestors and the theater.

Some of the protesters shouted "pedophile!" and "groomer!" at a crowd of counter-protesters and at attendees who had lined up to go inside the theater.

They were answered by shouts from the other side: "The groomers are in your churches!"

A small group of armed people dressed in black also stood on the pro-LGBTQ side of the street wearing rainbow scarfs tied to their tactical vests. While they declined to speak to reporters, one confirmed that they were members of the John Brown Gun Club, a left-wing gun rights group.

According to reports, crowds on both sides remained mostly calm, although police did step in to stop minor disturbances. Some members on the pro-LGBTQ community side of the street helped with crowd control, keeping people from spilling into the street.

Many passing cars honked and some waved signs in support of the LGBTQ community. Some passengers flipped off protesters.

Police eventually closed off an adjoining street as the pro-LGBTQ group swelled in size and a small fraction of them attempted to cross the street to the side occupied by the right-wing groups.

Kimiya Factory, president of the advocacy group Black Freedom Factory, stepped in alongside police to calm the crowd and move it back toward the sidewalk.

"Please stay on this side of the street, I'm begging you," Factory told the crowd.

As of 10:00 p.m., there were no arrests made related to the protests and the combined crowds on the street had dwindled to under 60 people.

City Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and Councilwoman Teri Castillo turned up to support the pro-LGBTQ group. Earlier in the day, McKee-Rodriguez, the first openly Gay Black man to win a City Council seat, told the San Antonio Report that counter-protesters should "focus on [what we] hope to say in a protest — and it's that we are equally as deserving to be in this space as anybody else. And you can't intimidate us away from that."