Charlotte's Pride Parade, scheduled for late August, rejected the float application of Gays for Trump -- ostensibly because of the organization's "history of public comments and stances disparaging entire groups of people."
But North Carolina resident Brian Talbert thinks his group's political affiliation was the cause.
"I never thought we'd get to a day where you'd have to fear being a Republican," he told Charlotte's local Fox station. "I've been told I can no longer be a part of the gay community, like they have some sort of power over that."
"We're members of the gay community, but we have the elite gays who want to stand up and say that they speak for us all," he continued. "We're here as living proof that they don't."