HOUSTON, Texas – Visitors and residents KPRC 2 spoke to in the Montrose community say they respect freedom of speech and religion, but won’t tolerate being harassed and antagonized which now happens there on a routine basis, and at times turns violent.
”Once they start triggering people, it gets very physical very fast,” said KB Brown who operates several parking lots on Fairview along the popular LGBTQ+ strip.
Brown showed us a cell video of an all-out brawl on Fairview last Friday.
She says it involves bar goers and a members of a religious group that congregates there on weekends claiming to be inspired by Jesus, preaching against sin.
”He said the wrong thing to the wrong person, and she snapped,” Brown said.
Brown says several others jumped in who had also been antagonized with hate speech.
”Stuff like, ‘Hey, if you have fake boobs, and you call yourself a woman, [and] you don’t have the reproductive organs... you’re going straight to hell. You’re an abomination. You need to come over here, and repent right now,’ that does not make me want to repent,” Brown said.
She adds, people have the right to speak their minds, but says the group crosses the line by disturbing the peace, using bullhorns and speakers to pick on people.
”I might normally walk away from somebody like that but once you’ve been drinking and you hear somebody say, ‘You don’t love God,’ or ‘God doesn’t love you,’ you turn around and take that personal because you’ve dealt with that majority of your life,” Brown said.
Several people who live in the area have also complained about the group being loud and disruptive.
Brown and others are questioning the group’s true motive.
”This is our home, this is where we belong, and this is exactly what makes us not want to be here anymore… and it’s terrifying,” said a bargoer named Javier Lozano.
KPRC 2′s Deven Clarke tried to reach out to the group through information on the flyers and pamphlets members hand out but have not gotten a response.
The Houston Police Department says it is aware of the concerns and encourages people who feel they’re being harassed to give them a call or visit the nearby Montrose Center during business hours and file a complaint.
