RICHMOND, Virginia (LifeSiteNews) — A transgender activist attacked marchers at a pro-life demonstration in Virginia, underscoring the common ground between the radical LGBT and pro-abortion movements and a propensity for violence that tends to go ignored by the mainstream media.
Video shared by Students for Life of America depicts a man barreling his way through an oncoming parade crowd at the Richmond March for Life, waving a transgender flag and hitting several marchers as he passes through them.
BREAKING: Protestor with trans flag assaults some of our @StudentsforLife students marching at the Virginia March for Life in Richmond.
Will he be held accountable? pic.twitter.com/m1ffG11hel
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) February 21, 2024
“Apparently this activist is infamous and has appeared at events like this before. He came rushing forward, chanting something, and I knew he was going to attack so I pulled out my phone to record it,” said Students for Life Action (SFLAction) government affairs coordinator Savanna Deretich. “He sprinted up to our people, knocked the glasses off people’s heads, dashed through our march sign, and kept running. I saw he was arrested by police sometime later.”
The New York Post reported that the man was later identified as 42-year-old Noah Cleveland and has since been charged with one count of disorderly conduct. Additional video showed him being taken away in police custody.
BREAKING: The trans activist who assaulted pro-life students at the Virginia March for Life has been ARRESTED! https://t.co/TsQQ1vYfP2 pic.twitter.com/620oDEX3d6
— Steven Ertelt (@StevenErtelt) February 21, 2024
“We were nearing the end of the march and chanting ‘we are the pro-life generation’ and ‘we will abolish abortion’ with our megaphones,” recounted one of the marchers, Liberty University freshman Kelsey McCormack. “Then I see the trans activist, running and jumping and waving the flag, come smash into the group and go after the big banner.”
Despite constant refrains from the press and the federal government about the supposed dangers of “right-wing extremism,” pro-abortion violence has been a recurring problem in recent years.
The 2022 leak of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade triggered a nationwide wave of pro-abortion anger, threats, and violence, including hundreds of attacks on nonprofit pregnancy centers and Catholic churches, as well as intimidating protests outside Republican-appointed justices’ homes, which the Biden White House and then-House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi refused to condemn.