- Joined
- Jun 2, 2016
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Primarily, it was an attack on the LGBT community fueled by homophobia. It's a stark reminder that the LGBT community are still targets, even despite the steps they have taken towards equality recently.
There has been a long history of violence against the LGBT community, the New Orleans arson that was left unsolved, the Eric Rudolph bombing that nobody gave a damn about until he then went and bombed the Olympics. Even after being victims of horrific attacks, the reaction towards the LGBT community was one of revulsion and horror. That kind of hatred, where you're despised for being who you are is not forgotten easily, and I don't think it's difficult to see why many of the LGBT community find it difficult to accept this as being an attack on America in general rather than an attack on them.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's great step forward that the American response to this atrocity is now one of solidarity, rather than indifference to the gay community but there's a great deal of short term memory loss here of wounds to the LGBT community that have not yet healed. It's important to remember that there are still messages and articles out there that are saying that the 'faggot's deserved this', and not all these messages are coming from Islamic mouthpieces.
My last thought on the topic is how despicable I find those who talk about how the gay community should be against the muslim community now. The people who now seek to pit them against each other, as if to say 'well, now that you gay's are on our side it's about time you start persecuting people like we do'. This is not a matter of Muslims vs gays, many in the muslim community face the same hatred and repulsion that the LGBT community has faced.
Glenn Greenwald has a fantastic write-up on that very thing.
https://theintercept.com/2016/06/13...onize-islam-and-justify-anti-muslim-policies/