Butterflygate: National Butterfly Center forced to shut down due to QAnon harassment
Mission, Texas - The National Butterfly Center was forced to shut down on Wednesday due to threats from rightwing conspiracy theorists.
The National Butterfly Center, which is dedicated to conserving and studying butterflies in their natural habitats, seems to be the latest target of rabid QAnon conspiracy theorists, who have got it into their heads that the nature preserve is the headquarters of a sex-trafficking ring.
The harassment got so bad that the non-profit project, located near the Texas-Mexico border, has been forced to shut down indefinitely for safety reasons.
They announced the decision in a tweet: "'The safety of our staff & visitors is our primary concern,' states Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg, president & founder of the @NabaButterfly. 'We look forward to reopening, soon, when the authorities and professionals who are helping us navigate this situation give us the green light.'"
The center's executive director Marianna Treviño-Wright told the Texas Tribune she suspects they have been targeted for filing suit in 2017 against the Trump administration's border wall construction, which they said would destroy the butterfly habitats. The lawsuit is still ongoing.
Brian Kolfage of We Build the Wall first started making human-trafficking accusations in 2019. One year later, he was indicted on suspicion of redirecting funds from We Build the Wall to his personal expenses.
Nevertheless, the campaign has continued. "There’s no way really to navigate it. You get at each day and you hope for the best and deal with whatever the day throws at you," Treviño-Wright explained.
"Many of those days for the last three years have been pretty rough, some of them downright terrible."
Tensions come to a head
Things got worse in late January 2022 when a far-right congressional candidate from Virginia, Kim Lowe, visited the center and demanded to be taken to the river "to see all the illegals crossing on the raft."
Lowe reportedly tried to tackle Treviño-Wright when asked to leave.
The National Butterfly Center closed over the weekend ahead of the We Stand America rally for "border security."
Former state Rep. Alex Peña had warned Treviño-Wright to "be armed at all times or out of town," as the center might become a target of rightwing attacks.
Those fears turned out to be valid. Trump supporters did arrive at the center over the weekend, with Ben Bergquam of the far-right site Real America's Voice posting a video on Twitter once again repeating the sex-trafficking allegations.
The QAnon supporters seem to be employing a tactic they honed during "Pizzagate," a 2016 conspiracy theory which held that a pizza parlor in Washington DC was actually the headquarters of a child abuse ring led by then Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Though the claims were baseless, that didn't stop a man from firing a gun at the restaurant.
Cover photo: Collage: 123RF/danymages & IMAGO / ZUMA Press