After every mass shooting, politicians tweet out statements that they are keeping everyone affected in their thoughts and prayers. However, this is one time that I, as a member of the LGBT community absolutely reject those “thoughts and prayers” from GOP politicians. Why? No GOP politician has ever been a friend of our community. In fact, they are simply tweeting out obligatory statements that don’t even mention the fact that this was an attack that was motivated by hatred of queer people. House Speaker Paul Ryan generically tweeted:
We pray for those brutally attacked in Orlando. While we must learn more about the attacker, the victims & families will not be forgotten.
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) June 12, 2016
Florida GOP Rep. Daniel Webster had a similar message:
Sandy and I extend deepest sympathy for victims & families affected by the mass shooting in Orlando. Our prayers are with their loved ones.
— Daniel Webster (@RepWebster) June 12, 2016
The pattern continued with many other GOP politicians:
My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families following this morning's horrific shooting in Orlando.
— Martha McSally (@RepMcSally) June 12, 2016
Prayers for #Orlando victims and families as well as first responders and medical staff.
— Keith Rothfus (@KeithRothfus) June 12, 2016
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families and the brave men and women who risked their lives to save others -rj
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) June 12, 2016
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families involved in the tragic #Orlando shooting. #PrayForOrlando
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) June 12, 2016
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this morning's horrific attack in Orlando and their loved ones.
— Richard Burr (@SenatorBurr) June 12, 2016
Of course, there was nary a mention of the LGBTQ community from these people. Why? Because they will never acknowledge that this shooter shared the same hate for LGBTQ people that they do. They will never acknowledge their complicity in creating a climate of anti-LGBTQ hate in America, via both their words and their hateful legislation. The GOP might cloak their hate in religion and hide behind the Bible and so-called “religious freedom” to defend their hateful beliefs, but one fact remains: they don’t give a damn about us, and that is why they are erasing us from our own horrific tragedy.
Beyond all of that, this is a community that has suffered countless acts of violence and indignity for eons. We have been strung up trees and fences, beaten to bloody pulps and even to death with baseball bats, beer bottles, lead pipes, and many other murderous instruments. We have even been burned alive in our own establishments, and now we’ve become the target of the worst mass shooting in American history. All of this just for daring to exist. Despite all of these well - documented FACTS, we still have these hateful politicians fighting to keep us from securing non-discrimination and hate crimes protections, with the presumptive GOP presidential nominee promising to stack the Supreme Court with anti-LGBT justices. They do all of this while publicly demonizing us and painting us as sexual predators and a blight on society and every other horrible thing you could think of.
So, yeah, GOP politicians - GO FUCK YOURSELVES with your “thoughts and prayers.” You have made literal careers of creating a hateful, dangerous anti-LGBTQ climate, and now you want to pretend you care and use OUR TRAGEDY as a way to score political points? Yeah, no. Not happening. You don’t give a damn about us. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Oh, and one last thing - you need to keep the names of the victims of this horrible hate crime out of your filthy mouths. You don’t deserve to speak of them, or of our community at all, ever. You are the problem when it comes to this hate, and until you start being part of the solution, none of you have any business expressing anything to do with this tragedy.
Featured image of Orlando victims via screen capture from Twitter
