Joey Gibson

Joseph Owan Gibson (born November 8, 1983) is an American right-wing activist and the founder of the alt-right group Patriot Prayer, which is active in Portland, Oregon and other cities within the Pacific Northwest. Early life and education Gibson was born in Clark County, Washington to an Irish father and Japanese mother. He grew up in Camas, Washington with two siblings in a Catholic household. He played high school football and was a quarterback before he "got in trouble with the law." After pleading guilty to a felony theft charge in 2002, Gibson was barred from owning a gun until 2015, when he petitioned Clark County to restore access. He spent some time in jail and then was homeless living in Portland, Seattle, Mexico, and Hawaii. He worked as a football coach at Skyridge Middle School and earned his GED. Gibson went on to earn a degree in psychology from Central Washington University. Activism In 2016, Gibson founded the far-right group Patriot Prayer. Gibson was motivated to become an activist after he viewed TV coverage of a June 2, 2016, Trump rally in San Jose, California, where protests turned to brawling. At his early rallies, Gibson was known to wear a "Hillary for Prison" T-shirt. In January 2018, Gibson along with members of Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys, including Tusitala Toese, antagonized participants at the 2018 Women's March in Seattle.