This is Terrorism
#151
Welcome to Third Cultured, a newsletter about Queer people in diplomacy, politics, and war from the perspective of Kyle Borland (he/they). My goal is to highlight all the ways today is different (and not so) from yesterday.
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This edition:
Opinion Essay
Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws/Violence Around the World
Opinion Essay
The Lake Street synagogue in San Francisco is renovating to improve security.
When I first read that, my initial reaction was a dark thought: “Beaux and Twin Peaks should invest in bulletproof glass.” For those that aren’t regulars to San Francisco’s gay haunts, Beaux and Twin Peaks are notable bars in the Castro neighborhood with street-facing glass windows. Twin Peaks was famously the first gay bar in the country with windows, in general.
Unfortunately, it’s not hyperbole or even a hypothetical. These violent forces are actively targeting San Francisco’s gay, Jewish State Senator Scott Wiener, who had his house searched for a bomb threat this week for the second time in six months. The threats increased in frequency after his recent Twitter spat with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA14) and Charlie Kirk. (Read Senator Wiener’s full statement.)
Right-wing extremists have no meaningful policy solutions. Instead, they're focusing on slandering and demonizing gay and trans people, using us as scapegoats for everything they believe is wrong with America. What’s so terrifying is these attacks against LGBTQ people mirror historic demonization of Jews, immigrants, and others — blaming them for problems in society, demonizing them, accusing them of harming children, and then committing violence against them.
Words have consequences. We're watching people follow through on these threats in real time. I even received a bomb threat this morning, echoing Kirk and Taylor Greene’s sentiments. It's up to all of us to call out homophobic and transphobic attacks before we experience another massacre like Club Q or Pulse Nightclub.
Even worse, they’re blatantly targeting his staff as well since they help him pass nation/world-leading pro-LGBTQ+ legislation. In particular, the fascist terrorists don’t like Wiener’s work to make California a safe haven for trans kids and their families who are being targeted by GOP state legislatures across the country. Not to mention his work to ensure trans people in prison are not discriminated against or put in unnecessary danger when placed by their birth-assigned gender.
For some reason, after all of these viable threats, Senator Wiener has not been given security by the state or national Democratic party. It’s particularly egregious since SF’s current representative is (for the time being) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who’s husband was just assaulted in their home by a crazed conspiracy theorist looking for her. Not to mention, one of our sitting senators is Dianne Feinstein, who famously became mayor of San Francisco following the assassination of progressive Mayor Moscone and out gay Supervisor Harvey Milk. They can’t be caught sleeping at the wheel when similar violence is targeting another out gay politician representing San Francisco, especially one that used to sit in Milk’s seat on the Board of Supervisors.
Not to mention the terror were seeing nationwide against LGBTQ+ people!
There’s the Club Q shooting – where the suspect was just charged with 305 counts of murder, hate crimes – but the past weekend alone saw the surge in domestic terrorism that the Department of Homeland Security warned would occur following the attack in Colorado springs. It’s at the point that high profile RuPaul’s Drag Race queens don’t feel safe either, hiring armed security and requiring metal detectors at their shows following Club Q and the months of anti-LGBTQ+ vitriol.
In 2022, drag events have been the victims of threats and violence 124 times across 47 states, led by Texas (10), North Carolina (10), Illinois (8), Tennessee (6), California (6), and Georgia (5). A new record, and that doesn’t even include Club Q. Six states have introduced drag ban bills: Arizona, gay-bashing capital Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Tennessee, and Texas.
In the Georgia Senate runoff, Republican nominee Herschel Walker had no hesitation leaning on anti-trans messaging to defeat incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock.
New York City isn’t safe from it all either, with protests at Staten Island drag event and a string of killings and robberies against gay men.
An Ohio holiday drag queen story hour was canceled after armed intimidation from 50+ Proud Boys. The organizers attempted to secure police protection leading up to the event, but to the surprise of no one – the pigs purposefully useless.
In North Carolina, Christian Fascists sabotaged the power grid, cutting power to more than 45,000 people in order to stop a drag show that fascist propaganda had demonized for months.
The attacks left tens of thousands without power and many without heat on a night when temperatures were expected to dip to the 30s. Cell phone and internet service were also reportedly down for the majority of the county, and school was canceled Monday. As of Sunday, around 35,000 businesses and homes remained without power.
There is nothing else to call the violent attacks against politicians, the targeted demonization and violence against minorities, and the sabotaging of civilian infrastructure for political purposes.
This is terrorism. Homegrown, American as apple pie – terrorism.
Queers need to arm ourselves. Force is the only tool terrorists respond to or recognize.
American institutions, and the vast majority of the public, have no interest in protecting us. Americans are more concerned with trying to find ways how “both sides” are “equally as bad.” They are dedicated to the propaganda they’ve consumed their whole lives and to the pleasant comfort of the sand around their head from so long in the ground.
Stay safe, beautiful people. This is only the beginning.
As always, thanks for reading.
Kyle (@kgborland)
Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws/Violence Around the World
377A repeal: Singapore turns page on dark LGBT history (BBC)
Afghani gay men whipped in soccer stadium (QNews)
After a Va. queer bar shooting, LGBTQ residents decided they’d had enough (WashPost)
After Club Q attack, LGBT venues grapple with safety concerns (Reuters)
After record election year, some LGBTQ lawmakers face a new challenge: GOP majorities (NPR)
Amid concerns over Maoz, Netanyahu insists he ‘won’t accept’ harm to LGBT rights (Haaretz, Times of Israel)
Atlanta police arrest person with making threats to LGBTQ+-friendly nightclub (Fox 5 Atlanta)
Average of 20 gay men bashed every day for over 40 years, NSW inquiry told (The Guardian)
Bullying of LGBTQ students on the rise this year according to high school principals (LGBTQ Nation)
‘Don’t Say Gay’ Is Happening in China Too. But It Can’t Turn Back the Clock. (The Diplomat)
Erdoğan says 'LGBT imposition a global dictatorship tool' against Islam (bianet)
In red California, LGBTQ people still feel under threat. ‘There’s no safe place anywhere’ (LA Times)
'Let them live there': Russia claims harsh anti-LGBTQ law is defense against US influence (CNN)
LGBTQ youth in juvenile correctional facilities at high risk for suicide and self-harm (Williams Institute)
Man in Texas charged with threatening doctor caring for trans, LGBTQ kids (WashPost)
Minnesota man threatens LGBTQ+ bar with a gun (LGBTQ Nation)
Publishers fear chilling effect of Russian anti-LGBT, foreign agent laws (euronews)
Putin Bans "LGBTQ Behavior" In Russia: Texas Reps Take Inspiration (Erin in the Morning)
SCOTUS hears oral arguments in 303 Creative case (Bay Area Reporter, Vox)
South Korea's LGBTQ community confronts crushing headwinds in fight for equality (NBC News)
The big stakes in the Supreme Court’s new LGBTQ rights case (Vox)
The IRS routinely lets right-wing churches break tax law & endorse political candidates (LGBTQ Nation)
The Teen Romance Novel That Russia’s Politicians Just Can’t Bear (NYTimes)
The violence queer and trans people face is state-sanctioned (Prism)
The political environment that led up to this latest attack against LGBTQIA+ folks is yet another reminder that political rhetoric demonizing our communities has real and fatal consequences. Transphobic and homophobic violence is a fire stoked by the white supremacist, Christian-fascist right. Conservative forces are inciting violence against queer and trans communities through hate-filled speech; they threaten to legislate us out of existence and to erase us from schools, libraries, and all public spheres because our mere existence and visibility are direct threats to the ever-fragile white nationalist cis hetero patriarchy. Elected officials and their many foot soldiers use fear and hatred to maintain power here and across borders.
US cancels trip by LGBTQ envoy to Indonesia after objection (WTOP)