Tragedy struck in the late hours of Saturday, November 19 when an armed assailant opened fire on the patrons of Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In six minutes, five people were shot dead and 18 others were seriously injured.
In the days since the shooting, investigators hailed the quick actions of civilians, armed with nothing more than courage and high heels, as heroic and credit them with saving lives by taking down the attacker.
Hateful speech leads to hateful actions
As the LGBTQ+ community grapples with the complex mix of mourning, fear, and outrage following this latest attack, many can't help but wonder if the recent uptick in slander and political attacks on the community isn't to blame for this act of egregious violence.
A study in 2016 by Kiesha Warren-Gordon and Gayle Rhineberger, published in the Journal of Ethnicity and Criminal Justice, found a direct connection between increased hate speech and demonization of marginalized communities on one hand and hate crimes on the other. The study coined the term "the Trump effect," because the authors found a direct correlation between hate crimes and Trump rallies, which often seemed to proceed them.
Similar studies have confirmed that when a marginalized community becomes the focus of the ongoing news cycle, the chances of hate crimes against members go up. The International Network for Hate Studies found that increased instances of antisemitic violence occurred after the news cycle had focused on specifically anti-Jewish rhetoric. The same phenomenon was observed when the number of anti-Asian hate crimes spiked after politicians such as Trump associated the COVID-19 pandemic with Asian people; talk of anti-Islamic immigration reform also led to increased violence against Muslims.
"A spike in hate crime against Muslims after an Islamic terrorist attack may perhaps be explained by a misdirected 'defensive' or 'retributive' reaction, as the urge to somehow 'strike back at the perceived threat," explained researcher Dr. David Brax, in his research for the Centre for European Research at Gothenburg University.
"According to what we call the 'threat model,' hate criminals react to something perceived as a social, physical, or moral threat, a threat to their physical well-being, relative social standing, etc.," he continued.
This model posits that the motive for the Club Q shooting may run deeper than just generalized hatred, and instead stem from a threat perceived to be coming from the LGBTQ+ community.
Transphobia in the media
This theory finds basis in the fact that anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, specifically transphobia, has increased monumentally in the news over the last year. By March 2022, Fox News had already aired 86 segments about Trans people since President Biden took office.
Just a few weeks ago, popular Fox News personality Tucker Carlson aired another segment attacking Transgender people with generalizations and fallacies. In it, he commented on a story out of Canada about a Transgender teacher sporting large prosthetic breasts, and generalized that her inappropriate behavior was typical of all Trans women.
"Tucker Carlson was covering some story of a Canadian teacher a couple of weeks ago who came out as Trans and wears these big goofy prosthetic breasts," said Parker Molloy, author of The Present Age newsletter, on an episode of The New Abnormal podcast. "An inappropriate way to dress for school or anything else, and there is a way to argue that that shouldn't be allowed at the school based on dress codes or what should be appropriate in a school. Instead, it was used to be like, 'Look, these are what these Trans weirdos are like, and they shouldn't have nondiscrimination protections.'
"It's so frustrating to watch, because that is the only perspective that a lot of people are going to get. The only Trans person they're gonna hear from is... well, they're not even gonna hear from that Trans person; they're gonna hear from Tucker Carlson screaming about how this is leading to the end of society."
"Us" vs. "them"
Dr. Brax's study of hate crimes also found that attacks are more likely to target marginalized groups of people when they are constantly "otherized" by society. "According to the 'oppression model,' hate crime is more of an everyday, ordinary activity, entrenched in prevailing power structures. According to this model, hate crimes express views and values that are prevalent in society as a whole, and find justification in this fact," he said. "This model can account for why it is primarily already disadvantaged [people] that are particularly targeted by hate crimes. This model can account for why hate crimes would rise when there is evidence of such justification from the previously 'silent majority.'"
Using an "us" vs. "them" mentality when it comes to Trans people further isolates and demonizes the community, pushing them away from those who already perceive them as a threat. Over the last year, conservative politicians have attacked LGBTQ+ people, claiming them to be "groomers'' and insinuating that conversations around gender identity and sexuality are corrupting the minds of young people.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who recently announced his plans to run for president in 2024, focused on this topic when he advocated the "Don't Say Gay" law in Florida, banning conversations and literature on LGBTQ+ topics in schools.
The idea that Transgender people are corrupting society was also pushed by politicians like Herschel Walker, who aired a campaign video condemning Trans female athletes, just days after the shooting.
Instead of addressing this issue and taking responsibility for their actions, conservative pundits like Carlson have doubled down in their attacks on Transgender people, even inviting anti-Trans Queer people onto his show.
"The tragedy that happened in Colorado Springs the other night, it was expected and predictable," said Jaimee Michell, a recent guest on Tucker Carlson and founder of the anti-Trans organization Gays Against Groomers. "We all within Gays Against Groomers saw this from a mile away, and sadly I don't think it's going to stop until we end this evil agenda that is attacking children," she said.
Michell went on to blame Trans and Nonbinary people for the deaths in Colorado, simply for existing in the same community as cis Queers.
Ignorance does not equate to innocence
Not only have conservative media outlets like Fox News refused to take responsibility for spreading hate and misinformation about Trans people, but they have recently begun to deny that the attack in Colorado Springs was a hate crime at all.
"As for Aldrich's motive in shooting strangers, we can only guess, and we're not going to guess, both because guessing would be dishonest and irresponsible. You can't just make up a story because it suits your preexisting beliefs, but more to the [point], we're not going to guess, because it would dishonor the memories of the five people who were just murdered in Colorado Springs," Carlson said on his show just days after the shooting.
Of course, Carlson was against assuming the motives of the person who murdered five in an LGBTQ+ club, but he was not against assuming the motives behind President Biden's claims that the US needs more gun control to prevent another shooting.
"Joe Biden and his allies used this shooting as a pretext for disarming the law-abiding population of the country. 'We need more gun control,' Joe Biden said, predictably, not understanding that Colorado's existing gun control laws, which are extensive, did not prevent this attack."
He soon twisted his rant to cast himself as a victim in the wake of many calling him out for his anti-Trans rants.
"But it didn't stop with gun control, because the Second Amendment is not the freedom that threatens the people in charge the most. No, that would be the First Amendment, which is your right to say what you sincerely believe," he said. Hitting the nail in the rainbow coffin, he concluded, "Your words are a greater threat than any firearm."
Unfortunately, he went on to claim that he and other conservatives were collateral victims of the Colorado shooting, because politicians are now attempting to hold them responsible for their words.
Of course, Carlson is not a stupid man. He understands his reach, and in a moment of attempted sarcasm, he admitted it, sort of. "You are responsible for this, they told you, because you said the wrong thing," he said, addressing his viewers. "You are guilty of stochastic terrorism inspired by the violence of your beliefs. Anderson Lee Aldrich committed mass murder because you complained about the sexualizing of children. Every time you object to drag time story hour for fifth graders or point out that genital mutilation is being committed on minors — which it is — every time you say that, you are putting people's lives at risk. Now, that seems implausible, and yet many are making this claim. Many have made it over the last 24 hours."
Shifting the blame
In the last week, Carlson has only doubled down in his claims that the attack in Colorado was not inspired by hatred for the LGBT+ community or stoked by his rhetoric. He recently began mocking news coverage from other networks by seeming to take responsibility, only to recant it moments later.
"If you've been watching the news recently, the one thing you know for certain about the accused gunman in the massacre in Colorado over the weekend is that he is a crazed, right-wing, anti-Trans extremist. This is a man who was radicalized by this show, and by the Twitter account Libs of TikTok to hate Transgender people, and that's why this man walks into a bar, a Gay bar, with a gun and starts murdering people.
"He did that because he was taught by right-wing media outlets to despise and fear the Nonbinary community, and that's why this show and Libs of TikTok must be hauled into court and bankrupted for what we've done, so that we can never promote this kind of horrifying violence again. That's the real lesson of this mass shooting. So that is what they've been telling you again and again and again on various news channels over the last week."
He concluded his rebuttal by claiming Fox News's innocence, and that the shooter was not inspired by hatred for the Nonbinary community. "Well, actually, it turns out, we discovered last night, that Anderson Lee Aldridge is part of the Nonbinary community," Carlson said. "[They] don't hate them; [they] are one. In a court filing, Anderson's lawyers wrote this: 'Anderson Aldrich is Nonbinary; they use they/them pronouns and for all formal fillings will be addressed as Mx. Aldrich.' That's the shooter, the Nonbinary shooter. Let that sink in. First, get your chuckling under control and then see what that means."
The news that Aldrich now identifies as Nonbinary has been interpreted by many as an attempt to receive a lesser charge by refuting claims that the shooting was a hate crime, even though they yelled homophobic and transphobic slurs and rhetoric throughout their violent spree. Carlson is only playing into the strategy of the shooter by validating these claims to mean that the massacre was not inspired by a hate crime but rather reflects the instability of some in the LGBTQ+ community.
Carlson refuses to discuss the identities of the victims and makes assumptions as to whether or not those played a role in the motive of the crime, but he is quick to jump into identity politics when the perpetrator claims to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
Furthermore, Carlson used this new development in the case to call out fellow reporters who have continued to call the shooting a hate crime. "What it means is that virtually everything that NBC 'News' has told you about this shooting in Colorado is not only wrong, but it is the opposite of the truth. It is a grotesque and filthy lie. It wasn't 'news' reporting. It turns out it was the most transparent sort of political propaganda."
Seattle mourns for Club Q
While members of the LGBTQ+ community continue calling out those who have contributed to the uptick in transphobia, they are also continuing to mourn. On Saturday, November 26, members of Seattle's LGBTQ+ community met at the AIDS Memorial Pathway in Capitol Hill for a candlelight vigil hosted by Seattle PrideFest. Prominent community members joined together to speak, sing, and honor the memory of those lost. Following the event, mourners marched to the Cal Anderson Park Reflecting Pool to lay flowers in honor of the victims.
"May the spirits of the light be with us, may it shed its light and warmth above all. May it give us warmth and compassion, and may we share it with everyone we meet. It is a tragedy that brings us together, but it is love and caring that binds us. We won't hide. We stand proud. We won't surrender; we are strong. We are Queer, we are colorful, and we will live openly in the light," said Sister Alleva Marx of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Abbey of Saint Joan.
Seattle's LGBTQ+ community stands with all those mourning, outraged, and fearful after the Club Q tragedy. While hatred continues to be thrown at us, knowledge, compassion, and critical thinking will always be our greatest tools in fighting for justice.