Gay Men’s Chorus Leader on Fort Lauderdale Crash: ‘This Was Not an Attack on the LGBTQ Community’

Justin Knight, president of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus, said Saturday evening that both the driver and the victims of a tragic accident at a Gay Pride parade were part of his group, after the local mayor claimed the crash was “deliberate.”

As the Associated Press reported earlier Saturday, a driver “slammed into spectators Saturday evening at the start of a Pride parade in South Florida, killing one man and seriously injuring another.”

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis (D) said “he believes the crash was ‘deliberate’ and an attack against the LGBTQ community,” the AP reported.

But Knight disputed that claim, according to Miami- and Fort Lauderdale-area ABC affiliate Local 10:

Police took the man who was driving the truck into custody and were questioning him. He was wearing a Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus t-shirt.

Justin Knight, the chorus’ president, said through a spokesman that chorus members were the ones injured and that the driver was “part of the Chorus family.”

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the tragic accident that occurred when the Stonewall Pride Parade was just getting started,” Knight said in a statement. “Our fellow Chorus members were those injured and the driver was also a part of the Chorus family. To my knowledge, this was not an attack on the LGBTQ community. We anticipate more details to follow and ask for the community’s love and support.”

Witnesses said the driver could be heard telling police it was an accident.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-FL), who was present, was unharmed and tweeted her prayers for those affected.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Photo: file