I Was Pepper-Sprayed By Police Reporting On A Boston Straight Pride Parade

Senior reporter Ryan Broderick tells the story of how, while covering a straight pride parade, he got caught between attendees, counterprotesters, and the police.

The parade in Boston was purportedly intended as parody of an LGBTQ Pride Parade — it featured Pepe the frog cosplayers, members of the far-right Proud Boys, and alt-right troll Milo Yiannopoulos as grand marshal riding atop a Trump 2020 float.

It ended with police trying to break up crowds with pepper spray and batons.

Here, Ryan explains what pepper spray feels like, how the number of counterprotesters was far greater than actual attendees, and how, at one moment, "There was really nothing stopping Boston from becoming the next Charlottesville."

Read Ryan's full story on straight pride parades as far-right memes:

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