The Pulse shooting was not an act of religious terrorism.
As the news rolled in during the first few days after the mass shooting in Orlando, one word was conspicuously missing from the headlines: gay. Instead, Paul Ryan, current House Speaker, called it a reminder that the United States is a “nation at war with Islamist terrorists.”
Yet his statement seems almost irrelevant, for the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the attack cannot be trusted to be entirely valid. The group has shown its primary motive to be spreading fear, and claiming this attack serves exactly that purpose. A look into Omar Mateen’s past reveals that throughout his life, he has expressed loyalty to not only ISIS but other various militant groups with conflicting beliefs, such as Nusra Front, al Qaeda, and Hezbollah. Thus his sudden allegiance to ISIS in the midst of the shooting must be taken with a grain of salt.
Furthermore, Mateen—disorderly, alcoholic, and of questionable sexuality—simply does not fit the Islamic State’s profile. ISIS is known for both its opposition to alcohol and its violent execution of suspected homosexuals. This is the group’s attempt to place itself at the center of American political debate and widen growing rifts...and it’s working.
The problem in saying this was an attack on Americans as a whole is twofold. First, the obvious—this was clearly an act of homophobia. A treasured safe place—perhaps one of the few safe places— for gays and lesbians has been taken away.
Secondly, there is an underlying contempt in the way some people are saying “American people,” an implicit caveat that Muslim Americans are no longer included in this blanket statement. When did minorities, the lifeblood of the United States, become the “other”?
Identity is not a tool that politicians can use to shape their image. Two weeks ago, upon Muhammad Ali’s death, Donald Trump stated that the boxer and activist was a “truly great champion.” Now, in the aftermath of the Pulse shooting, he is decrying President Obama’s foreign policy and calling for a ban on Muslims. This has become full-on, unconcealed hatred, and he wants us to know it. Because it works anyway.
We are being misled. Mateen was American-born and raised. He was not a foreigner or an immigrant. We cannot point to religious tensions as being the sole motivating factor— if it was at all—in this gruesome attack.
This was not an act of religious terrorism. It was a hate crime against the LGBTQ community. Calling it otherwise is not only blatant ignorance, but also an act of careless and hateful erasure...for Orlando is only the latest and the worst in a history of attacks on the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities.
Let us not take away the wrong messages from this attack. We all stand together, race and religion and sexuality aside. Only by continuously reminding the world of what the Pulse shooting really was can we expect to see greater tolerance and acceptance.