A 31-year-old man and 31-year-old woman were arrested last week for disrupting a New Port Richey City Council meeting with their attempts to voice their opposition to Pasco County’s new pride festival.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the council was discussing “event planning” at City Hall when it opened up the microphone to public comment. A few individuals spoke up to object to the Pasco Pride festival, a new LGBTQ+ pride event that debuted last October at New Port Richey’s Sims Park. During the discussion, Carlos J. Rivera Vasquez and Liliana Negron Rodriguez, who were in the audience, began shouting out of turn, voicing their own displeasure with the events.
NPR Police Chief Kim Bogart was asked to escort the pair from the meeting; according to at least one witness, one of the protestors shoved the officer during the encounter.
The pair, who share a New Port Richey address, were charged with disturbing a lawful assembly, resisting officers without violence and trespassing after warnings.
This article appears in Jan 24-31, 2019.
