OPINION: LGBTQIA+ Rights In The USA Are Being Eroded, And The Club Q Massacre Is A Symptom
When a gunman killed five people and injured 25 others at Club Q in Colorado Springs on November 19, he was, allegedly, motivated by homophobia and transphobia.
Anderson Lee Aldrich has been charged with 305 criminal counts that include first-degree murder, attempted murder and “bias-motivated crimes”, ie, hate crimes.
The Nation reported Aldrich’s father’s response to hearing the news:
“They started telling me about the incident, a shooting involving multiple people. And then I go on to find out it’s a gay bar. I said, ‘God, is he gay?’ I got scared, ‘Shit, is he gay?’ And he’s not gay, so I said, ‘Phhhewww…’”
To Aldrich’s father, The Nation concludes, the idea that his son might be gay is worse than the news that he is accused of mass murder.
The Club Q massacre came at a time when LGBTQIA+ people are increasingly being demonised by politicians and some sections of the media, as suggested by a United Nations report from August.
“I am deeply alarmed by a widespread, profoundly negative riptide created by deliberate actions to roll back the human rights of LGBT people at the state level,” says Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, in a report published by the UN.
“Despite five decades of progress, equality is not within reach, and often not even within sight, for all persons impacted by violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States,” he says.
The report was released after Madrigal-Borloz visited Washington DC, Alabama, Florida and California, where he met with state officials, members of civil society and persons who shared experiences and life stories with him.
“The evidence shows that, without exception, these actions rely on prejudiced and stigmatising views of LGBT persons, in particular transgender children and youth, and seek to leverage their lives as props for political profit.”
Without being specific, the comment appears to allude to politicians and some media using LGBTQIA+ issues to appeal to a conservative base and audience.
Another response to the Club Q killings that illustrates Madrigal-Borloz’s statement that LGBTQIA+ civil rights are being eroded, came from within the establishment.
Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who has served as an adviser to Republican politicians, including Donald Trump, issued a statement after the massacre saying of the five people killed in the nightclub that night: “there is no evidence at all that they were Christians. Assuming they have not accepted the truth and affirmed Christ as the lord of their life they are now reaping the consequences of having eternal damnation.”
DNA OPINION
Regardless of political orientation, the conventional response to a mass shooting is to offer “thoughts and prayers” and condolences to family and loved ones. That Ellis appears to celebrate the victims’ “eternal damnation” is a clear indication that, to some Americans, LGBTQIA+ lives are worth less than other people’s.
