North Idaho drag performer sues lobbying group for defamation

After winning a more than $1 million judgment earlier this year, a North Idaho drag performer Monday sued the Idaho Family Policy Center for defamation related to a 2022 dance performance. 

The performer accused the group of spreading false and damaging statements about him, which he said led to harassment and emotional distress. 

In an emailed statement to the Idaho Statesman, the Idaho Family Policy Center’s spokesperson, Morgan MaGill, called the lawsuit “leftist bullying tactics” and said the group has not made false statements. 

The Boise-based organization is a conservative Christian center and has broad influence at the Idaho Capitol, having helped draft abortion legislation and laws outlawing gender-affirming care for minors. 

The lawsuit centers on an LGBTQ+ event in Coeur d’Alene in 2022, where Eric Posey, a Kootenai County resident, performed at a drag show. The festival, called Pride in the Park, received significant negative publicity online, and afterward posts spread claiming that Posey had indecently exposed himself during his performance — an accusation he said is false.

More than two dozen members of the white nationalist Patriot Front group were arrested at the same event on conspiracy to riot charges. Five members of the group were sentenced to jail in 2023. The case against the group’s leader was dismissed. 

Following Posey’s performance, blogger Summer Bushnell made online posts claiming that Posey had exposed his genitals during the performance. Some of her posts included an edited video showing Posey with his crotch area blurred. 

Posey maintains his genitals were never visible during his performance, and in May a jury unanimously awarded him more than $1.1 million in damages in a lawsuit against Bushnell. 

”The evidence is undisputed,” Posey’s attorney, Wendy Olson, said in a statement emailed to the Statesman. 

Posey’s lawsuit accuses the Idaho Family Policy Center of “capitalizing” on the attention surrounding the video. The group launched a petition, written by the group’s president, Blaine Conzatti, called “Protect Children from Drag Shows,” which included a similar photo of Posey with his crotch blurred.

The group also posted a podcast about the pride festival, wherein Conzatti and others, including Sen. Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene, discussed the incident. Conzatti said the festival displayed “pure sexual immorality,” according to a transcript included in the legal complaint. 

An Ada County resident, Josh Bales, was part of the podcast interview and also has been named in the lawsuit. “His genitals actually came out of his underwear at one point,” Bales said on the podcast, according to the complaint. 

“Correct,” Toews responded. “That’s what that sort of appears to me. That’s what I saw.” 

The defendants’ statements “are false,” the legal complaint said, noting that the unedited image of Posey “does not reveal his genitals,” and that the way he had dressed for the performance made it “physically impossible” for him to expose himself. 

Toews did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment from the Statesman. Bales could not immediately be reached for comment; MaGill told the Statesman that he had served as a “contractor” for the group when the podcast was made, and that it declined to comment on his behalf.

After an investigation of the matter, the Coeur d’Alene city prosecuting attorney stated that “the unedited video recordings do not depict any exposure of genitalia,” and claims otherwise “cannot be supported by the evidence,” according to the legal complaint. 

The defamation case accuses the Idaho Family Policy Center of spreading false information about Posey, which exposed him to “hatred, contempt and ridicule.” He “suffered consequences with his then-employer,” it added. 

The lawsuit asks for financial damages but does not specify an amount. 

According to the complaint, the Idaho Family Policy Center and Posey were in communication in recent months. After Posey sent the organization three cease and desist letters between January 2023 and August 2024, the two parties signed three tolling agreements, which are legal documents that delay the statute of limitations while disputants attempt to resolve their differences. 

The last agreement expired Oct. 21 and no resolution was reached, according to the complaint. The group’s petition and podcast remain online. 

“Idaho Family Policy Center stands behind our statements regarding the Coeur d’Alene drag show,” MaGill said in her emailed statement. “Everything we have stated is factually true — and truth remains an absolute defense in defamation cases. We will not be intimidated by leftist bullying tactics, and we are committed to seeing this case through to its rightful conclusion, where we expect full vindication.”