The preacher said in an interview with The Sentinel that the incident has encouraged him and his fellow church members toward “further boldness.”
Police arrested and detained several young people in Watertown, Wisconsin, on Saturday while they were preaching the gospel at a public drag queen event targeted toward children.
Video circulated on social media showing multiple police officers arresting Marcus Schroeder as he was reading from the Bible. One officer was recorded aggressively pulling a microphone out of his hands and walking him away in handcuffs. Nick Proell, another young Christian, was detained and removed from the venue but later released with a warning.
Jason Storms, who recorded the viral video, said in remarks provided to The Sentinel that the young people, who attend Mercy Seat Christian Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, were some of more than 200 individuals from various groups assembled to protest the drag show.
“The police, per orders from city leaders, arrested several young people. Three were arrested earlier in the day while inside the park praying and talking to attendees, and then released with warnings,” said Storms, who serves as minister of evangelism at Mercy Seat Christian Church. “It was open to the public, thus the public’s right to free speech carries with them. One was arrested later in the day for preaching on the public sidewalk outside the venue and is being charged with unlawful use of sound amplification and resisting arrest.”
Schroeder said in an interview with The Sentinel that the incident has encouraged him and his fellow church members toward “further boldness,” noting that “the fight’s not just going to go away.”
“It was worth it. It’s actually an honor to be counted worthy to stand with the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and been arrested for the sake of spreading Christ and his kingdom,” he said. “If the police wanted to try and set an example for others or anything like that, the only thing I’ve seen is actually the exact opposite, where more and more people are seeing the severity of what’s going on and being called to more action.”
Proell likewise told The Sentinel that he “absolutely” does not regret his detainment. “I’d do it all over again if it gives me an opportunity to share the good news and rescue innocent children being sexualized by their parents,” he said. “God will use it for good. We will stand for truth even if we stand alone.”
Storms added that there were several dozen police officers assembled to protect the drag queen event, during which performers dressed in lingerie were seen “dancing and gyrating in front of little children, who were invited to give them one dollar bills.” Wisconsin law forbids individuals from causing a minor to view or listen to “sexually explicit conduct.”
News of the drag event made national headlines as Nazi sympathizers, who were unaffiliated with the Christians preaching the gospel and the secular groups protesting the event, appeared at the performance. Wisconsin Democratic Governor Tony Evers denounced the Nazi presence but defended the occurrence of the show.
“LGBTQ Wisconsinites deserve to be treated with dignity, decency, kindness, and respect just like every other Wisconsinite,” he said. “They deserve to be safe being who they are without fear or threat of shame, harassment, intimidation, or violence.”
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