Orlando: 911 Transcripts

Note he makes no mention of homophobia, just opposition to bombing Syria.

Pansy Division: Silver

“It’s sort of shocking to think that 20 years ago we couldn’t have had a conversation about gay marriage. But now we have it. And yet people are still being killed because they’re gay. So you’ve got one side of the ship is going up and the other side is going down. We want to try and make the whole thing float if we can.”

Chris Freeman of Pansy Division, celebrating their 25 the anniversary with a new album, Quite Contrary.

They kipped on my floor during their UK tour, you know?

Great to have them back.



That second vocalist sounds familiar...

Owen Jones Watch: Reach For The Sky

Mirror.

Is this a victory for Owen 'Hic' Jones (or more likely completely unrelated).

PS Despite what the video pic might suggest it's Mark Longhurst who's going.

Orlando: A Question Of Evidence

The FBI has found no evidence so far that Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people and wounded more than 53 at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, chose the popular establishment because of its gay clientele, U.S law enforcement officials said.

“While there can be no denying the significant impact on the gay community, the investigation hasn’t revealed that he targeted Pulse because it was a gay club,” a U.S. law enforcement official said.

Soon after the shooting in the early morning of June 12, top U.S officials such as the FBI director and U.S. attorney general described it as both a hate crime and an act of Islamic terrorism. The shooting rattled the gay community, which felt singled out by Mateen.

“People often act out of more than one motivation,” Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said in the days after the attack. “This was clearly an act of terror and an act of hate.”

A month later, though, a complete picture of what motivated Mateen remains murky and may never be known since he was killed in a shootout with police and did not leave a manifesto. Officials said there is no evidence thus far that Mateen, 29, was gay or that his attack was motivated by homophobia.

The assessment is based on interviews and an examination of his computer and other electronic media.... 

Washington Post.

The 'Mateen was a secret gay' line always soumded like a silly fantasy.

And as for his choice of target and motive... fuck knows.

PS Looks like last night's massacre in Nice might not have been an act of Islamist terror.

Orlando: A Tribute

Cos random photos of hot guys kissing will help us heal our pain.

Orlando: In No Way Is This Man A Weirdo Who Can't Be Trusted

The ever reliable Sun.

Orlando: You Clearly Know Fuck All Mate

The Independent.

Orlando: Pinkwashing

Pink News.

Oh fuck off out of this, you murderous state terrorist Zionist hoodlum.

Orlando: Hate

Tom Toles, Washington Post - who have a gallery of 15 cartoons inspired by Orlando.

Orlando: Men

We may never know exactly why Mateen did this or the extent to which “radical Islam” played a role, but the very next day a white Christian male was arrested with explosives in his car driving towards LA Pride. Religion, with its aggressively strict concentration on traditional and conservative values, is a place to which men in crisis can turn.

For thousands of years, faith has been used to keep straight men at the top of the ladder, but religion itself not the actual problem. It is masking the fact that masculinity is failing to adapt to the changing world where women are breadwinners and gay couples can start families. Since Sandy Hook, there have been an astonishing 998 mass shootings in America. Two of the perpetrators were Muslim, but all were men. Surely this suggests that this is a wider problem with masculinity. Until we reassess what it means to be a “real man” then men will continue to beat their wives and murder LBGT people to ease their own self-loathing.

Toxic masculinity was just as much to blame for the Orlando shootings as radical Islam, Louis Staples, Independent Voices.

Yup.

Mind you, there's much that could be said about the nexus between radical Islam and machismo, particularly in the West.

PS This is kinda connected, I guess; Shame And Sexuality: What is internalised homophobia?, BBC News magazine.

It's not really, I just thought it was interesting and don't know where else to put it.

Orlando: Muslims

From a selection of photographs, with testimonies, of LGBT muslims by Samra Habib on Guardian online; What's it like to be queer and Muslim?

Radical Islamists convinced Omar Mateen that being gay is never compatible with being a Muslim – but that’s not necessarily true, Independent Voices.

Orlando: Who Knew?

Pink News.

Well, actually this will come as news to Julia Hartley-Brewer and Mark Longhurst at Sky News, so fair do's.

Und...

Gay Star News.

Good Morning Britain: A Heated Debate

The Archbishop of York became embroiled in a heated television debate with Piers Morgan this morning over gay marriage.

Archbishop John Sentamu appeared on the ITV show to promote his reasons to vote remain in the upcoming EU referendum but the topic soon moved on to the Orlando massacre.

MailOnline columnist Mr Morgan, 51, asked the religious leader about the church's views on gay marriage following Sunday's attack, which took place in a gay club in Florida.

Dr Sentamu, 67, was forced to deny that the church was homophobic and insisted that he has lots of gay friends - and he was particularly unimpressed when Mr Morgan compared homophobia to racism.

The MailOnline columnist said: 'What if I said to you that you can come to this country as a Ugandan born man but because of the colour of your skin you can only have a civil partnership, you can't have a real one.

'No, some of my relations died on the ships. Slavery was a very wrong thing.'

Dr Sentamu insisted that while he is not in favour of gay marriage due to his religious beliefs, he is not homophobic and he wants to support the LGBT community.

He said: 'I've got a lot of gay friends and they see me as a friend, as someone who wants to support and defend them against homophobia.

'Not supporting gay marriage does not equal homophobia.'

Mr Morgan said: 'You've taken a pretty strong stance against gay marriage. Is it about time that religious leaders from all faiths came together and were more tolerant generally towards homosexuality?'

But the archbishop replied: 'You can still have your view, in terms of teaching the church's position on marriage and at the same time be intolerant of those who are homophobic.

'The church's teaching on marriage between a man and a woman is very clear. I support civil partnerships because for me that's a matter of equality, a matter of fairness

'My upholding of Christian marriage as I understand it goes hand and hand with saying to people that to diminish homosexual people is anathema to the Christian faith because God loves us all equally.'

Mr Morgan was undeterred and asked: 'Is homosexuality a sin?'

The archbishop said: 'I would never say that. I will never say that because sin is doing something consciously against god.' 

Mail online.

The unspeakable in pursuit of the unspeakable etc.

Hoax Watch: Justin Trudeau

World News Daily

No they didn't, it's PhotoShopped.

Orlando: Trump

Matt Davies, Newsday.

Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 14, 2016

Orlando: Jonas

Monday night, I attended the vigil/Stonewall Democrat-sponsored rally that sprawled the blocks surrounding the historic Stonewall Inn to process and mourn Saturday night’s massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, with my NYC queer community.

I want to first thank the organizers of this event for reading the names of every identified victim of the mass shooting at the end of our 90 minutes spent in community together. However — I am angry, as are many in my queer family — about a number of things that happened at the event which felt more like a political rally than a vigil.

But the most sour taste I can’t seem to wash out of my mouth is the introduction of straight pop star Nick Jonas as one of the evening’s speakers (he was only one of a few straight speakers).

For months now, Jonas has engaged in what is colloquially referred to as “queerbaiting” — marketing himself, and his sex appeal, to gay men during the lead up to the release of his new album which came out last Friday...

I don’t want to draw too many conclusions about Jonas’ and his team’s intention with this aggressive “queerbaiting.” But one thing is certain: this is not a time for straight allies to take up space — especially if you’re an ally who just dropped an album three days ago.

Now is a time when we, as a community, are mourning the loss of 49 queer and trans brothers and sisters, many of them people of color. The media and public are largely already trying to erase the sexuality and gender identity of the victims. Seeing a straight, white man on stage addressing the mourning queer community only intensified the pain of our grief...

JamesMichael Nichols, Dear Nick Jonas, There’s A Way To Be A Straight Ally. That Wasn’t It, HuffPost Queer Voices. 

Speechless.

Orlando: 49

Anderson Cooper reads the names, remembers the victims, breaks down.

Orlando: Omar

Omar Mateen, the gunman who murdered 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning, may have actually been gay himself and was leading a double life.

Mateen's horrifying attack on Pulse nightclub was initially thought to be a homophobic attack rooted in extremist Islamic ideology.

But now his ex-wife, a former police academy classmate and clubbers have stepped forward to say they think Mateen was gay and had been visiting Pulse since 2013.

Investigators think he could have traveled to Pulse - which was a two hour drive from his home in Fort Pierce in Southern Florida - so he wouldn't have been seen.

It's also been revealed that Mateen used gay dating apps Grindr and Jack'd to chat to men online and was friends with draq queens at the club.

Signs that Mateen could have been gay emerged as far back as 2006 when he asked a male classmate out on a date.

At the time Mateen was said to be going to gay clubs and chatting up men.

Mateen's first wife, Sitora Yusufiy, 27, whom he met online in 2009 and married soon after, told Daily News his family think he murdered the 49 because he was in turmoil about who he really was - not because he was an Islamic extremist...

[Some say he was a regular at Pulse]

Daily Mail.

The Sun.

Oops!

The 'all homophobes are secretly gay' is a well-worn trope - but, despite several high-profile cases involving right-wing politicians and evangelical preachers, is rarely true.

It also serves to absolve heterosexuals from any blame for their homophobia.

Please bare in mind that just because someone says something - here, a woman spurned - it doesn't mean that it's true.

Though the evidence here seems rather compelling.

If it is true, this is still about homophobia, as Omar was a victim of it, too.

Turned this round quick, Dave. Guardian.

Orlando: Terror

First Dog On The Moon (click to enlarge).

PS 'I'm gonna die' is a text no mother wants to receive. Mine always feared she would, David Ferguson. A lovely love letter from a gay man to his mom (mum).

Orlando: With

'Crowds throng Old Compton Street, London, last night in a vigil for the 49 people shot dead in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida'.

PS 'The Metro paper, owned by the Daily Mail Group, aren't our friends. It's just that today, DMG isn't at our throats', Jonathan (dunno if you know him).

BTW Pink News ran a brilliant and insightful analysis of yesterday's front pages. I guess this person must teach media studies at a top university or something.