During an interview with NBC on Monday, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) CEO Sarah Kate Ellis claimed falsely that politicians like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) “have blood on their hands” for a recent mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado, “whether or not the motive on Saturday night turns out to be hate.” [Emphasis added]
Ellis stated that the increase in anti-LGBTQ hate crimes is “driven by two things, primarily: One is the rhetoric that’s coming out from politicians. They’re using our community as political footballs and they’re spreading lies and hate about our community. Just this past year, this past year alone, there have been over 300 anti-LGBTQ bills proposed, 300 against a community that’s not looking for anything. So, I think there’s that. And then, add, couple that with social media platforms that are monetizing hate, that are monetizing lies. They’re making money off of spreading hate, and they’re not stopping and they have the tools to stop it. So, it’s incredibly frustrating to see something like Saturday night happen when you know what’s driving it. Whatever the motive comes out to be, we know that there is an increase in this culture of hate and rhetoric around our community that is resulting in real-world harm.”
She continued, “So, I think that DeSantis, Boebert, they have blood on their hands on this. They have to stop spreading lies. These are lies that they’re spreading and they’re causing pain and death and murder against our community, in addition to insufficient gun safety in this country. Couple that all together and you have what happened on Saturday night… So, you can see, whether or not the motive on Saturday night turns out to be hate, which, it all — it looks like it’s pointing that way, it’s still an environment and a culture that we’re living in and that politicians are leading. They’re leading this hate.”
The motive for the shooting is currently unknown, but that hasn’t stopped the bullying gay lobby from exploiting it to demonize their political opponents.