Experts: Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric could galvanize extremists

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/crime-arrests-riots-race-and-ethnicity-religion-a22a3e11521dfd398778d4820f484c50

Experts: Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric could galvanize extremists
By REBECCA BOONE

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — As hate speech targeting LGBTQ people increases among some far-right influencers and others online, experts are warning that extremist groups may see the rhetoric as a call to action.

Such may have been the case when 31 members of the neo-Nazi group Patriot Front were arrested in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Saturday and charged with conspiracy to riot at a Pride event, said Sophie Bjork-James, an assistant professor in anthropology at Vanderbilt University who researches the white nationalist movement, racism and hate crimes in the U.S. The arrests came as a toxic brew of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has been on the rise in Idaho and elsewhere.

“There is a very clear relationship between normalizing this hateful content and having extremist groups try to mobilize around that in hateful actions,” she said. “We can see a direct relationship between the spectrum of anti-LGBT rhetoric from statehouses into these extremist groups.”

Domestic extremist groups see conservatives as potential allies, Bjork-James said, and they’ve found anti-LGBTQ sentiment is one of the easiest ways to “build a broader coalition among the radical right.”

“Unfortunately, I think it is a strategy that is working,” she said.

Last month, a fundamentalist Idaho pastor told his small Boise congregation that gay, lesbian and transgender people should be executed by the government. Another fundamentalist pastor in Texas gives similar sermons.



Chicago, January 2022


Washington D.C., January 2022


Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, June 2022

[Behind the Aegis]

1. "I am SHOCKED! NOT!" says ever gay person reading this.

We are always an easy target, always have been. The medical community had been our enemy, sometimes, they still can be. Politicians use us as fodder, props, or as "talking points". Religious leaders and their followers use us as the reason for everything bad in their lives (look back on the witch madness in the Middle Ages and up to the 18th century). I could say more, but I would get jumped.

[NCLefty]

3. It almost seemed the haters finally shut up after losing on DOMA, DADT, marriage.

But they were just waiting for new leaders.

What exactly were the going to do to the people at the pride parade? "Should we be arming up?" is a thing I can't help but wonder.

The world's gone mad.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

8. They shifted their focus to immigrants for a few years

All the while, their hatred for us never went away. Now, though, the focus is squarely back on the LGBTQ's - especially the T's - with a level of hostility and hatred that makes me think back to Nazi Germany of the mid/late 30's.

The world's going mad because these lunatics have gone mad - if they were ever sane at all.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

9. The only thing that is "shocking"

is how openly hateful and violent it's getting this time around. There's always been elements of hate. There's always been the very real possibility of violence. But now it's all been cranked up to 29.

At no point in my life has this country been a loving and inviting place for people like me. Politicians, religious "leaders" and their qults, and even medical professionals have done plenty to bring misery.

But 2022.... this is an entirely new level. A very ugly one, and seems to get uglier everyday.

[NCLefty]

2. Strong Virgins Make Strong Cell Brides

Sadly, I don't think anyone was hit with charges that weren't a misdemeanor?

I guess we have them documented now at least. 😒

From the article:

Domestic extremist groups see conservatives as potential allies, Bjork-James said, and they’ve found anti-LGBTQ sentiment is one of the easiest ways to “build a broader coalition among the radical right.”

Yeah, no shit.

[Gore1FL]

4. I bet everyone is either lgtbq+ or knows someone who is.

I submit it adds more unity to the left than it does opposition on the right.

[walkingman]

5. Agree - if you have never known a LGBT person in your life you've missed out.

[AntiFascist]

6. I agree, and it could even have the opposite effect...

galvanizing anyone who is sympathetic to the LGBTQ+ community against the extremists.

[hunter]

11. I'm not so sure about that.

The right wing considers LGBTQ people dead to them, or else it considers whatever LGBTQ friends or family they may have "exceptional" and worthy of special protections as one of their own.

One of my grandfathers tended to operate on that level. He was the handsome officer in World War II, having an enlisted driver and a big black car, carrying the "Get Out Of Jail Free" card for misfits deemed essential to the war effort. He considered homosexuality a disorder, but not something that should ruin a man's life, most especially any talented scientist, engineer, or technician...

The rest of my grandparents would have been perfectly at home here in the 21st century, celebrating gay marriages, etc..

My parents met as artists-with-day-jobs in Hollywood. Their home has always been a safe haven for all sorts of interesting people. Sadly it was all "don't ask, don't tell" when I was a kid.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

7. They're galvonizing them, all right... Galvonizing them to target and kill us

It's been ceaseless attacks upon us all year long. I really do think their goal is nothing short of getting us all killed. This is beyond spewing this shit to seek votes or get re-elected (I doubt it ever was.) This is about destroying the community and getting people killed.

I've been saying and shouting and screaming and repeating myself about all year. From Abbutt to DeSatan, from Fux to "Groomers", from draconian bills to hate speech, they have had a single-minded obsession with ruining or ending the lives of LGBTQ's - especially the T's - since the year started.

I honestly think they are so fucking obsessed with spilling our blood and eliminating us that if they were given a choice between "Drumpf returns tomorrow" or "All LGBTQ's will be killed," they'd prefer the latter.

I absolutely think they intended to kill LGBTQ's on Saturday in Idaho. Same way I think the Proud Incels wanted to hurt or kill drag queens in California this weekend.

I absolutely think Abbutt and DeSatan want to get LGBTQ's killed or drive them to suicide. Same with Fux and all the reich-wing hate media.

This is not a culture war anymore, if it ever was. It's now on the verge of violence and murder, and many of us feel like we're fighting for our lives.

[jcmaine72]

10. Hate Speech is not free speech.

It's an act of violence. We're one of the few developed nations in the world without comprehensive hate speech laws. This needs to end. It's getting people of color and members of the LGBTQ community killed.

Last I checked, the First Amendment does not protect acts of violence, and that's precisely what anti-LGBTQ rhetoric is.