Now It Is International

It used to be we just had to worry about the far-right causing violence here during Pride events now we have to worry about international terrorists.

Foreign terrorist organizations could target Pride month events: FBI, DHS
The threats could come online, in person or in the mail, according to the FBI.
ABC News
By Luke Barr
May 13, 2024

Foreign terrorist organizations may seek to exploit "LGBTQIA+-related events and venues," including events during 2024 Pride month -- celebrated in June, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security warned in a recent public service announcement.

"Organizations like ISIS may seek to exploit increased gatherings associated with the upcoming June 2024 Pride Month," according to the announcement, which the agencies issued last week. The announcement added that the threat is "compounded" by the "current heightened threat environment" in the United States.

The threats could come online, in person or in the mail, according to the FBI and DHS.

Last February, ISIS "called for followers to conduct attacks on unidentified soft targets, although the attacks and targets were not specific to LGBTQIA+ venues," the agencies wrote in the public service announcement.

[…]

"LGBQTIA+ members have drawn the ire of al-Qaida and ISIS supporters in the past based on their perceived lifestyles and beliefs," Ali, who is now an associate professor at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy, told ABC News. "However, the degree to which this announcement was driven by specific and credible intelligence about attacks here against this community, versus a more general abundance of caution based on Pride month, remains unclear."

If domestic terrorism wasn’t enough now not it has gone international.

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In other sad news, a trans woman was murdered in Tennessee.

Starr Brown, Black Transgender Woman Who “Always Had Uplifting Words”, Killed in Memphis, Tennessee
HRC
By Shoshana K. Goldberg
May 8, 2024

Starr Brown, a Black transgender woman, was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee on April 19th. Starr is at least the 11th transgender or gender expansive person killed in 2024, and at least the fourth killed in the month of April alone. We say “at least” because too often these deaths go unreported — or misreported. The Human Rights Campaign is deeply saddened to report on Starr’s passing.

Some family and friends referred to Starr with what is presumably her birth name; her obituary also lists both names. However, as Starr Brown is the name used in her socials, and appears to be the name she used most in life, this is how we will refer to her throughout this blog.

As reported by Fox13 Memphis News--in an article which misgenders Starr and uses her birth name—a coworker, Alexavier Williamson, has confessed to the shooting, and has been arrested and charged with her murder. His arrest comes two weeks after her killing, which was initially reported by the Memphis Police Department and in press coverage.