TN city council meeting goes off the rails as alderman shows pic of drag queen eating 'beating heart': report

A city council meeting in Franklin, Tennessee debating whether to approve a permit for an LGBTQ pride event went off the rails on Tuesday night after an alderman tried to graphically illustrate the purported dangers of such events.

According to NBC News investigative reporter Mike Hixenbaugh, the alderman held up "a photo of what she described as a drag queen biting into 'a live, beating heart,'" and she went on to warn that "this could have happened here" if the city allowed the Franklin Pride festival to continue.

The alderman then went on to complain that the Franklin Pride festival wouldn't give a booth to a local religious group that "believes that homosexual attraction is the result of Original Sin and teaches gay youth to embrace a lifetime of celibacy," according to Hixenbaugh.

The Tennessean reports that the permit for Franklin Pride was eventually approved on a 5-to-4 vote, with Franklin Mayor Ken Moore casting the decisive tie-breaking vote in favor.

Moore did warn Franklin Pride to ensure that its event this year was family friendly, however.

"If you violate the trust we are placing in you right now, then I will work as hard as I work every single day to make sure that event never happens in Franklin again," he said.