Friday, December 16, 2022

We've Seen This Before.

But what is difference is the violence and the threats.

During the Lavender Scare it was loss of jobs and jail that was our threat now it is guns, acts of violence, and deadly threats. The DHS has come out with terrorist threat warning against the LGBTQ+ and Jewish communities last month.

LGBT community says concerns in aftermath of Moore County protests go beyond a drag show
News & Observer.
By Colleen Hammond
December 9, 2022


When the stage went dark at the Sunrise Theater on Saturday evening, drag artist Naomi Dix thought it was just part of the show. But as stagehands, performers and assistants scrambled in the darkness, Dix said it became clear that something was wrong. 

Unbeknownst to Dix, the power outage at the theater in downtown Southern Pines was the result of a targeted attack on multiple power substations in Moore County that left more than 45,000 homes without power this week. 

And after death threats and protests leading up to Saturday’s show, Dix could not shake the feeling that the power outage might be connected to the growing number of anti-LGBT attacks and demonstrations happening across the country and outside the stage doors.

[…]

“We don’t know what has anything to do in connection with the drag show,” Dix said. “What we do know is that this is a larger issue — that the queer community has been targeted.”

Dix and others point to an increasingly hostile climate in North Carolina and around the country to those in the LGBTQ community. The threats have included protests outside libraries hosting drag story time and online bullying, escalating to death threats and the Nov. 19 Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs that killed five and injured 25 others.

White supremacist organizations like the Proud Boys and other groups have upped the level of violence.

Colorado Springs: Far-Right Influencers Made LGBTQ People Into Targets
The Southern Poverty Law Center
By Jason Wilson
November 22, 2022


These actors have made LGBTQ Americans into targets: of hateful social media posts that direct harassment, threats, and attacks at schools, hospitals, and individuals; of abuse, intimidation, and violence from hate groups; of laws that limit their care or censor information about gender and sexuality.

Anti-LGBTQ influencers channeling hate

A cluster of online influencers have ramped up bigoted and conspiracy-laced messaging in the last two years, directing hostile attention at drag shows, businesses, Pride festivals, children’s hospitals, and other places where LGBTQ people come together or receive care.

And they are creating fear in the community.

We do not know who to trust anymore, there were police and military personnel at the January 6th Insurrection, and in Ohio the NY Daily News reported,

An Ohio police officer was caught on video high-fiving a member of the the Proud Boys during an anti-LGBTQ protest in Columbus over the weekend.

The cop, who identified himself as Sgt. Dyer, confirmed to a group of LGBTQ rights supporters that he had engaged with the far-right extremist group who were there to protest an all-ages storytelling event featuring drag performers.

Who do you trust?

Republican politicians hype the anti-LGBTQ, anti-Jewish, and anti-Muslim flames, voters voted almost  50 percent Republican approving of enmity against us, the Fox News’s Tucker Carlson has one of the highest rated shows! Meanwhile sponsors go after the ratings and don’t care about the message.

And threats against us keep increasing.

GLAAD: Threats, violence against drag events surged nationwide in 2022
UPI
By A.L. Lee
November 23, 2022


Threats and violence against drag and transgender events surged nationwide throughout 2022, according to an LGBTQ advocacy group conducting one of the first comprehensive studies into anti-gay activities following the deadly mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado last Saturday.

GLAAD, one of the world's foremost LGBTQ advocacy groups, counted at least 124 cases in at least 47 states where anti-gay activities or significant threats had targeted drag events throughout 2022.

Texas saw the most anti-gay threats and protests this year, with 10 such occurrences in the Lone Star State. North Carolina was next with nine episodes, followed by Illinois (8), California (6), Tennessee (6), and Georgia (5).

The majority of protests and other such incidents occurred during Pride events over the summer and fall and were punctuated by violent rhetoric and false claims in campaign leaflets that targeted drag performers, the report states.

The analysis recalled several incidents that made headlines months ago.

In late July, the founder of a Neo-Nazi group and two other men were arrested in Boston during a protest against a drag queen story hour for children. And days later, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed his state was investigating a restaurant that went viral after a video showed children at one of the establishment's drag brunch events.

Over 50 percent of the voters voted Marjorie Taylor Greene endorsing her rancor against us.

Everyone laughed when Hillary Clinton said “It takes a whole village.” but she was right. If you are going end this violence the other 50 percent has to stand up and say enough is enough and speak out against the violence.

If you hear mean, intervene.

You all have heard Martin Niemölle poem…

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Which is on a plaque in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

If you do not want history to repeat itself you have to speak out!

~~~~~~~~~

If you are a victim of a hate crime you can report it here…

Contact the Hate Crimes Investigative Unit of the Connecticut State Police at hate.crimes@ct.gov

Call your local police or 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.

You can submit a tip anonymously.

The Connecticut State Police has just set up a special unit to deal with hate crimes and started training officers on hate crimes on the recommendations of the Governor’s Hate Crime Advisor Council.

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