The other day, my computer bombarded me with notifications about what happened at that nightclub in Orlando. A slew of news notifications appeared, with an ever-increasing count of victims, ending with the headline, "Worst mass shooting in US history occurs at Florida night club. 49 dead. More injured.”
It's troubling that we can get to a point where hearing about a shooting south of the border doesn't surprise us until historical superlatives creep into the headlines. Another horrible thing that doesn't surprise me is the immediate feeding frenzy on both sides of the political spectrum descended into.
This includes many on the far left spouting rhetoric portraying every gun owner in the United States, law abiding or not, as boogeymen that need to be reined in by the hand of the government, and the far right using equally unrealistic rhetoric, suggesting the assault rifles should be as easy to buy as shotguns or rifles and using the beliefs of the shooter as an excuse to disparage Muslims.
The shooting in Orlando was a critical-mass moment.
With all the things at play in the aftermath as people try to make sense of what happened, one truth is plainly self-evident: Homophobia is alive and well today.
Information retrieved concerning the shooter, Omar Mateen, depicts him as an angry, hateful person or a complete average Joe, depending on whom you ask. Many acquaintances refer to him as someone who seemed pretty normal, excepting the enormous chip on his shoulder when he spoke about gay people.
But in addition to being homophobic, Mateen likely had an extra layer of frustration in all of his anger at gay people. There's mounting evidence he may have been distraught that he had an interest in the same sex, himself. Profiles on dating apps specifically catering to gay relationships, and the fact that he frequently patronized Pulse, the club he went on to attack, point to a man who probably hated himself for what he was.
That's one of the most egregious symptoms of a society that has a long way to go: When people who are gay hate themselves for it, and project that onto other people like them, to resolve the pain of denying and hating who they are.
I've seen that, growing up. I personally know people who are gay, and have watched them suffer through the same cognitive dissonance that likely racked Mateen's mind. People, who would come out to me years later, would be the first to call anyone who ticked them off a three-letter word starting with "f" and ending with "g," only to admit that a dread of how people would respond to them was the main reason they stayed secretive about their sexuality.
Those friends had every right to be worried. I grew up in a place where gossip was an unending river of heedless, remorseless chatter. People threw around phrases like "that's gay" pejoratively, with the regularity of saying, “gesundheit" when someone sneezes. Friends of friends would post images on their Facebook page asking rhetorical questions like: "Why is it considered improper to have a straight pride parade but not a gay pride parade?”
You know, because we heterosexual people have faced, and continue to face so much persecution for who we choose to love, right? Give me a break. The ignorance and indifference to a struggling group of people is galling.
After his attack, Mateen spoke to police on the phone about the Islamic State, and the Boston Marathon bombers. What is one thing the Islamic State, the Boston Marathon bombers, Mateen himself have in common? Hate. Hate is not intrinsic to a religion or social group. Hate is, however, intrinsic to homophobia. In the coming days, I anticipate hearing many more heated arguments about what motivated Mateen.
I hope, in all the rhetorical crossfire that's going on, the one undercurrent of hate that pervades all of this is addressed, and exposed for what it is. Before any sort of solution, and well before any discourse on immigration laws or gun control laws, people of the United States, and, well, society as a whole, need to take a good, hard look at the cause and origin of all that hatred.
