LGBTQ supporters say they were threatened with a gun, slurs at a Kentucky rally

When Trent Osborne and James Hensley organized a small protest in support of human rights and pride at Sanders Park in downtown Corbin, they were prepared to receive some negative attention from onlookers.

“People would drive by and holler and flip us off,” Hensley said. “Sometimes the people doing it may mean something behind it but sometimes, you know, people just think they are being funny.”

Neither of them expected their small gathering of eight people to end in a confrontation where a firearm was brandished, slurs were exclaimed and a man touted ties to the Ku Klux Klan. But a video taken at the scene appeared to show those incidents unfold. The video went viral before it was taken down from TikTok, but it was reviewed by the Herald-Leader.

On June 3, Hensley and Osborne say they and about six other people set up in downtown Corbin with signs and chairs to support Pride and the LGBTQ community.

“It was just to inspire change and help people be confident,” Hensley said.

Things turned more aggressive that afternoon when Osborne said two men approached, one on a motorcycle and the other in a car. He said the men flipped the group off and proceeded to pull over and approach them.

“They began spouting slurs and hateful slander. The F-slur was said on multiple occasions, when the two men approached they each had their hands on their guns which were hidden in their pockets,” Osborne recalled.

Osborne said he confronted them about the weapons. One of the men pulled a card from his pocket, which Osborne said he recognized as a “KKK card.”

“They even proudly proclaimed to be homophobic, and racist,” Osborne said. “At one point the man who pulled his weapon later in the altercation looked at me and said ‘I’ll burn you and that sign.’”

The situation escalated further when the man allegedly put his card in Hensley’s face, and they began to slap each other’s arms until the man unholstered his weapon and put it down by his side. Both Hensley and Osborne said they began to yell out for help, and police arrived shortly thereafter.

In video footage of the incident, Hensley appears to shout expletives at the men and flip them off.

According to Osborne, the police demanded the man drop his weapon and confiscated both men’s firearms, one of which was not in a holster and was hidden in his shorts pocket. Police allegedly took the guns apart and removed the bullets that “were in the chamber and ready,” Osborne said.

“The police then do an investigation to find out what is happening, then ask us to leave as we have no permit, and they escort the men to their vehicles, giving their weapons back and sending them off,” he recalled.

The men in the video have not been publicly identified. Corbin police did not return phone calls Thursday afternoon to address the incident or whether anyone had been charged. The Corbin mayor was not immediately available for comment either.

“There are awful people in the world and sometimes you want to help them and see your side, but they are so stuck in their ways they can’t see any differences,” Hensley said.

LGBTQ backlash in rural areas

Other rural communities have recently faced opposition to LGBTQ events, including drag shows planned in Mt. Sterling and Floyd County.

Shows were sold out but were met with opposition. An op-ed was published in the local Mt. Sterling newspaper which called the show “immoral” and a petition to stop the show was passed around churches. A handful of online threats prompted the show to have security.

In March, organizers of an in-person show scheduled in Floyd County made it an online event after they received threats too.

Teri Carter, the spokesperson for activism group Moms Demand Action, said the story hit home for her. Moms Demand Action is an activism group advocating for public safety against gun violence.

Carter said the local library in Anderson County, where she lives, has faced threats after a small pride display was put up inside.

After spending weeks being an active participant in the 2023 legislative session, Carter said she felt passages of bills such as Senate Bill 150 and Kentucky’s new Second Amendment Sanctuary bill sends a larger message: “We are here to protect guns and not the community.”

Referencing the Corbin altercation, Carter said she was not aware that a crime occurred, but took issue with activists allegedly being asked to leave because they didn’t have a permit while the other men were given their firearms back.

“It concerns me that people can commit those types of threats and be sent away as if nothing happened,” Carter said. “What is so offensive to another human being about that to the point that they think it is OK to threaten them with a firearm?”