Kamala Harris during an October 16, 2024 campaign event in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Photo: Shutterstock
An angry white man in rural Stewartstown, Pennsylvania was captured on video screaming violent homophobic threats against two gay men canvassing for Vice President Kamala Harris.
The incident occurred as Jason Bello and Justin Coniaris, two Washington D.C. residents, walked through a parking lot after leaving a Harris campaign office in a private office park, Advocate.com reported. The website posted video of the incident.
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An angry tattooed bearded white man began screaming at the Bello and Coniaris while driving by. Bello started recording as the man stepped out of his vehicle, wearing a dark-colored cap, t-shirt, and jogging pants. The man accused the two canvassers of placing Harris campaign signs “all over public property.” The canvassers explained that they weren’t doing that.
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“F**king c**ksucking f***ots!” the man yelled. “Get your little f**king f** a**es out of this town. We don’t need you in this f**king town. You little f**king pieces of sh**. Go suck each other’s c**ks somewhere else, you f**king f**[s], before I f**king put a gun in you pieces of s**t. I will be back and rip every one of your f**ing signs out of your…”
The man then re-entered his vehicle and sped off while continuing to yell obscenities. Bello told Coniaris to step off of the road as the man’s vehicle sped away.
“It was obviously terrifying at the time,” Bello told the aforementioned publication. “Our goal was just to de-escalate and try and get him to leave as fast as possible.”
“It made me think of how one-sided the hatred is,” he continued. “A Trump supporter might feel uncomfortable in a highly Democratic area, but I don’t feel like a lot of Trump supporters would feel physically unsafe and threatened in the way that this guy made us feel.”
Stuartstown is located in York County. In 2020, the county favored Trump over Biden by a margin of 58,619 votes.
Bello said that former President Donald Trump enables and promotes the kind of hatred that he and Coniaris faced. Nevertheless, he and Coniaris said they had an “inspiring” day canvassing and speaking with “tons” of local voters, something that could prove decisive seeing as President Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by a thin margin of just 80,555 votes (1.2% of the state’s total vote).
Bello added that he hopes his experience will encourage other LGBTQ+ voters to help Harris win the election.
“As intense as it was, this is what generations of queer people before us have endured, and it’s our turn to be there and face the hatred. The hate is real,” he told Advocate.com. “Don’t let it scare you. The only way we can fight this hate is to not back down.”
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