With Anti-LGBTQ Hate From The Right On The Rise, Violence Was Sure To Follow

A shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs late Saturday killed five people and injured 19 more in an attack thats being investigated as a hate crime.

Court records obtained by the Associated Press Monday show the 22-year-old suspect is facing five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury. Just a year prior, the man had threatened his mom with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons and ammunition.

Despite the appalling nature of the attack, after years of increasingly angry and at-times violent messaging from the political far right, many Coloradans and others in the broader LGBTQ community arent exactly surprised.

As much as we are shocked by what happened, were not surprised, given the rhetoric thats been happening across the United States in the last few years, Colorado House Majority leader Daneya Esgar (D), and the co-founder of the states LGBTQ legislative caucus, said Sunday . Its been escalating.

Political extremists have seized upon anti-LGBTQ messaging nationwide as a tactic to rile up voters in a bid to raise campaign funds, and ultimately, to gain power.

Research conducted by the Human Rights Campaign ahead of the 2022 midterm elections found candidates spent at least $50 million on political ads attacking LGBTQ rights and transgender youth.

Anti-trans and anti-equality ads ran in at least 25 states, spreading falsehoods about gender-affirming care and transgender children, and accusing the radical left of things like promoting radical gender identity , whatever that means.

Conservative media has also amplified the hate-filled obsession. Heres a Media Matters clip, for example, of various right-wing figures who are convinced drag queens herald the end of civilization. It ends with Tucker Carlson urging viewers to arm themselves.

It is impossible to overstate the way that right wing media has presented drag queens as one of the foremost threats facing America for the past year including with chilling instructions by Tucker Carlson for his viewers to \"arm themselves.\"

Video by @JohnnyHeatWave pic.twitter.com/yRMLthvfJz

Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) November 21, 2022","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Ari Drennen","author_url":"https://twitter.com/AriDrennen","cache_age":86400,"description":"It is impossible to overstate the way that right wing media has presented drag queens as one of the foremost threats facing America for the past year including with chilling instructions by Tucker Carlson for his viewers to \"arm themselves.\"Video by @JohnnyHeatWave pic.twitter.com/yRMLthvfJz Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) November 21, 2022\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","thumbnail_height":720,"thumbnail_url":"https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1594754658710573062/pu/img/iJSTXTG0l265-ovG.jpg:large","thumbnail_width":1280,"title":"Ari Drennen on 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It is impossible to overstate the way that right wing media has presented drag queens as one of the foremost threats facing America for the past year including with chilling instructions by Tucker Carlson for his viewers to "arm themselves."

Video by @JohnnyHeatWave pic.twitter.com/yRMLthvfJz
Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) November 21, 2022

Much of the rhetoric can be traced back to a group of fringe politicians.

In the days following the passage of Floridas Dont Say Gay bill this August, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric surged more than 400% on social media. An HRC report at the time found just 10 people were responsible for two-thirds of the impressions on the 500 most viewed grooming tweets, resulting in more than 48 million views.

The group includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantiss press secretary Christina Pushaw, members of Congress like Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), and pro-Trump activists like Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raicheck.

Boebert, whose district abuts Colorado Springs, tweeted after the shooting that the victims and their families are in my prayers. Given her long history of smearing LGBTQ people on social media , her sincerity was immediately called into question.

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers but that does nothing to offset the damage that you directly did to incite these kinds of attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, responded Rep. Brianna Titone (D), Colorados first openly transgender state representative. You spreading tropes and insults contributed to the hatred for us. Theres blood on your hands. Just resign.

The LGBTQ+ community woke up this morning to yet another horrific event of murder. When politicians and pundits keep perpetuating tropes, insults, and misinformation about the trans and LTBGQ community, this is a result, she added . Im angry & my heart breaks for those who lost their lives.

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Thanks for the \"thoughts and prayers\" but that does nothing to offset the damage that you directly did to incite these kinds of attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. You spreading tropes and insults contributed to the hatred for us. There's blood on your hands.

Just resign. https://t.co/W35IxKGtya

Rep Brianna Titone - COHD27 (@BriannaForCO) November 20, 2022","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Rep Brianna Titone - COHD27","author_url":"https://twitter.com/BriannaForCO","cache_age":86400,"description":"Thanks for the \"thoughts and prayers\" but that does nothing to offset the damage that you directly did to incite these kinds of attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. You spreading tropes and insults contributed to the hatred for us. There's blood on your hands. Just resign. https://t.co/W35IxKGtya Rep Brianna Titone - COHD27 (@BriannaForCO) November 20, 2022\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Rep Brianna Titone - COHD27 on 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Thanks for the "thoughts and prayers" but that does nothing to offset the damage that you directly did to incite these kinds of attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. You spreading tropes and insults contributed to the hatred for us. There's blood on your hands.

Just resign. https://t.co/W35IxKGtya
Rep Brianna Titone - COHD27 (@BriannaForCO) November 20, 2022

Despite the attacks, at a vigil Sunday at the All Souls Unitarian Church in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorados First Gentleman Marlon Reis sounded a defiant, even optimistic tone.

Every single one of us deserves to feel safe in our communities. And last night wasnt just an attack on an LGBTQ+ nightclub, it was an attack on the very values that we hold most dear across our state and across our country. It was an attack on freedom, Reis said. Colorado should be a place where every person can live their life in peace, be who they are, love who they want to love. And we will settle for nothing less.