Bus and counter-bus navigate the Broadway-Elm-York merge.
New Haven finally had its encounter Friday with an anti-LGBTQ “free speech” bus — and it ended practically as soon as it began.
Since last Friday the city has been gearing up for the arrival of the bus, which is festooned with anti-transgender-rights messages and funded by conservative political groups. Its operator drives into cities to spread its message.
After opponents broke a windshield and sprayed graffiti on the bus in New York, New Haven officials started planning for potential trouble when the bus made its planned stop here during an East Coast tour. Last Friday officials met in the Emergency Operations Center at 200 Orange St. to plot strategy to avoid trouble, while local LGBTQ rights activists geared up for counterprotests.
The bus —- with the claim that “boys are boys … and always will be” emblazoned on its flank — was scheduled to arrive here last Sunday afternoon. It didn’t show up. Local pro-trans-rights demonstrators held a rally in its stead.
Then it was believed to be on its way Tuesday. It didn’t show. Protesters did again. One hundred strong.
The bus finally did make a brief stop Friday afternoon on Elm Street. Police arrived at the scene, expecting to find protesters, according to Assistant Chief Otoniel Reyes, who oversees patrol.
Contributed Photo
Instead, they saw only the bus. The driver asked the cops for an escort to the highway so it could head to its next stop in Philadelphia. Officers in two squad cars complied, leading the bus down Elm Street to State to Union Avenue, then over to the Sargent Drive I‑95 entrance on Long Wharf.
Along the way, they noticed a big U‑Haul truck behind the anti-LGBTQ bus. At first the cops figured the U‑Haul was connected to the “Free Speech” bus. But the bus driver phoned the sergeant handling the escort, Wilfredo Cruz, to let him the U‑Haul on its tail “is not with us,” Reyes said.
In fact the U‑Haul had a large tarp on its side with the message: “TRANSPHOBIA OUT OF CT.”
The Free Speech bus made it onto I‑95, the U‑Haul in hot pursuit. The cops phoned the state police to let them know the two-vehicle debate convoy was heading toward Fairfield County.
And New Haven’s brush with the latest Divided America political drama came to an end.