Terror at Club Q: News Miner 29
Notes on the suspect being gender nonbinary, conservative reactions to the murders, Kafer's claims of anti-religious bigotry, protectionism in the alcohol industry, and more.
Terror at Club Q
Late Saturday night (November 19 and into Sunday morning) a young adult armed with a rifle opened fire in Club Q, an LGBTQ establishment, murdering five people and injuring at least 17 others. Richard Fierro and Thomas James heroically intervened to stop the perpetrator and allow rapid medical response to save additional lives.
Following are assorted notes on the topic, followed by notes on other matters.
Suspect Is Gender Nonbinary
This was the big news from Tuesday evening (November 22): The suspect’s lawyer said the suspect is nonbinary and uses “they/them” pronouns.
Is the “nonbinary” identification sincere or a cynical legal ploy to deflect hate-crime charges and calm intense public outrage? I have no idea. As far as I’ve seen, not enough information has been publicly revealed to say one way or the other. I think the right default view is to assume the identification is probably legitimate unless shown otherwise.
Why does this matter? After the murders, more than a few people blamed anti-LGBTQ rhetoric for inspiring or helping to motivate the murders. Assuming the nonbinary identification holds up, that seems to weaken or break the case that conservative rhetoric is causally tied to the murders. But that is not clear.
Just as some people were too quick to presume that the perpetrator was an anti-LGBTQ bigot, now some people are too quick to presume that the perpetrator was not. Again, we simply do not know, based on facts revealed publicly to date.
Even assuming the perpetrator is gender nonbinary, does that imply that the perpetrator therefore was not motivated by anti-LGBTQ bigotry? No, it does not. People are psychologically complex. More than a few people in the past have alternated between an LGBTQ lifestyle and religiously motivated fervor against such practices. Again, we do not know!
It’s also possible that the perpetrator’s motives are so hopelessly confused that we will never be able to pin them down. Or maybe evidence will emerge at some point to make a clear determination possible.
What we do know is that, last year, the suspect threatened to blow a home “to holy hell,” precipitating a stand-off with police. Does that sound like a mentally stable person likely to have clear and consistent motives?
We also know the following, per the AP:
The suspect’s father is a mixed martial arts fighter and pornography performer with an extensive criminal history, including convictions for battery against the alleged shooter’s mother . . . both before and after the suspect was born, state and federal court records show.
You may notice that, in my article yesterday condemning religious conservative bigotry against LGBTQ people, I did not make any causal claims regarding such bigotry and the Club Q murders. That was intentional. I actually cut the following line, because I saw no point in speculating: “Although I have not seen clear evidence regarding motive, such as a manifesto or a series of social media posts clearly indicating intent, the best initial guess is that the perpetrator was motivated by hatred of LGBTQ people.” That was the best initial guess, but I figured I did not need to publicly state the guess there.
What I did instead is use other examples where the causal connection is clear:
As for [Lauren] Boebert and others who actively foment hatred of LGBTQ people, they do share moral culpability in helping to create a cultural environment in which some people feel emboldened to act violently toward members of the demonized class. For example, some people have made bomb threats to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care and have physically disrupted drag events.
There are some suggestions that, maybe, the perpetrator was motivated by anti-LGBTQ bigotry. (But, again, we do not yet know.) Although the district attorney has not yet formalized charges, the perpetrator was arrested in part for alleged bias-motivated crimes. The district attorney notes that the matter of motive is being actively investigated.
The perpetrator’s former neighbor and friend claimed the perpetrator “expressed he didn’t like the LGBTQ community,” reports 9News. The neighbor said, “And pretty sure at one point he expressed he hated the LGBTQ community, he hated gays.” Pretty sure? Is this guy reliable? Is he telling the truth? I have no idea.
Apparently the perpetrator was involved in posting to YouTube an animation titled “Asian homosexual gets molested,” the AP reports. Is that a sign of anti-LGBTQ bigotry? Maybe. (It’s definitely disturbing.)
It does seem likely that the perpetrator chose to murder people specifically at Club Q, specifically to kill LGBTQ people. Even that I don’t know definitively.
It seems that, in the case of Pulse nightclub in Florida, the perpetrator might have been gay, frequented Pulse, and chose to attack Pulse after considering another location. Wikipedia summarizes what seems to be the main motive: “In the hours before the shooting, [the perpetrator] used several Facebook accounts to write posts vowing vengeance for American airstrikes in Iraq and Syria and to search for content related to terrorism.” This illustrates that criminal cases can be complex.
In the end I tend to agree with Scott Wasserman:
Maybe the “motive” really doesn’t matter here, Ari. A man with weapons of unfathomable power and destruction fires them upon a politically targeted community. Motive matters for the legal process, but for our society, grappling with violence and illiberalism, it’s mostly immaterial.
Horrific Conservative Reactions to the Murders
A guest of Tucker Carlson blamed the victims:
The tragedy that happened in Colorado Springs the other night, it was expected, and predictable. We all within “Gays against Groomers” saw this coming from a mile away. And sadly I don’t think it’s going to stop until we end this evil [transgender] agenda that is attacking children.
Matt Walsh suggested that gender-affirming care is more evil than the mass-murder of LGBTQ people:
The West is in a state of total moral collapse. We kill, castrate, and sterilize our children here. We celebrate evil and debauchery in its most deranged forms. It’s sad to say but we do not have the moral high ground above anyone anymore.
The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire suggested, as Andy Craig summarizes, that “LGBT people are degenerates who should be segregated.”
KDVR’s Ashley Michels reports that, in the wake of the murders, some viewers wrote in with such remarks as, “being gay is a sin and God forbids it” and people “are sick of hearing about these [LGBTQ] people.”
Candace Owens said:
I just want to make sure I’m correct in understanding that the Left is using the tragedy in Colorado to make the argument that unless conservatives get on board with experimenting on children’s genitals with puberty blockers, then nightclub shootings will continue to happen.
Chase Woodruff reports:
On a morning when Colorado is responding to an act of mass murder at an LGBTQ nightclub, far-right activist Chaya Raichik is targeting state lawmakers [via Libs of TikTok], including the states first trans representative, over their support for drag queen events.
Leslie Herod, one of those so targeted, responded.
Tim Pool falsely accused Club Q of holding a “grooming event” and said, “We shouldn’t tolerate pedophiles grooming kids.” Kurt Schlichter said, “I don’t think we have to tolerate pedophiles because some asshole shot up a gay bar.”
Meanwhile, as religious conservatives slander LGBTQ people as “groomers” and “pedophiles,” the Catholic Church is facing continued scrutiny for decades of “sexual abuse of boys and girls by priests and other Catholic clergy,” as the Baltimore Sun reports. See also David French’s reports of sexual abuse of children within Christian organizations.
Media Matters has related news about conservative responses to the murders.
In October, signs at an anti-transgender rally in Nashville read, “Mutilate the mutilators” and “Doctors who mutilate children should be killed.”
Quick Takes—Club Q
Victims: These are the victims. An incalculable loss. More here, here, and here.
Club Q: What the club meant to its patrons.
Court: A “bruised and battered” suspect appeared in court.
Red Flag: The suspect’s past run-in with police prompted many people to wonder why police did not invoke the “red flag law” to keep the person disarmed. Sheriff Steve Reams joined George Brauchler to discuss the law. See a related AP story.
Vigil: You can watch video of the November 21 vigil held in Denver.
Podcast: Heidi Beedle joined City Cast Denver to discuss the assault on Club Q.
Responses: Colorado politicians issued statements.
Boebert: 9News harshly criticized Lauren Boebert over her continued anti-LGBTQ activism. So did the Denver Post. So did the Aurora Sentinel. So did CPR. So did Leslie Herod and Brianna Titone.
Rhetoric: The Denver Post and the Colorado Sun ran stories to the effect that anti-LGBTQ bigotry can lead to violence.
Motives and Implications: David Harsanyi and Chase Woodruff square off.
Background: Nick Penzenstadler reports, “Heard back from the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints HQ in Salt Lake. They confirmed the suspected gunman in Saturday’s shooting was on the membership rolls of LDS.” That may or may not mean anything.
Self-Defense: Some people within the LGBTQ community are talking about arming themselves in self-defense. See examples one, and two, and three.
Guns: “The suspect in Saturday’s shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs was armed with a rifle and a handgun that both lacked serial numbers and appeared to be so-called ‘ghost guns,’ 9Wants to Know has learned.” But there are mixed claims about this. CNN reports, “Records indicate that Anderson Lee Aldrich, the Colorado Springs mass shooting suspect, purchased both weapons brought to the attack—an AR-style rifle and a handgun, two law enforcement sources tell CNN.”
Gun Policy: You can read my thoughts on gun policy elsewhere.
Colorado Christian University: Heidi Beedle has more on Jeff Hunt’s anti-LGBTQ stance. (I don’t think all of her criticisms are on point.)
Conversion Therapy: Alex Burness reminds us, “The vast majority of [Republican] state legislators voted to preserve conversion therapy. Last election cycle, Colorado Republicans ran an ad dead-naming a trans lawmaker and calling her ‘dangerous for Colorado families.’” This last bit is a reference to a hit piece against Brianna Titone.
Records: Chris Vanderveen explains how some criminal records get sealed and what that means for reporters.
Praise: Craig Silverman says my article, “Religion and Anti-LGBTQ Bigotry,” is an “outstanding column” and “must reading.” Thank you, Craig.
Kafer Claims Anti-Religious Bigotry
Krista Kafer opines for the Denver Post, “Religious freedom is under attack from the left.” The problem is two-fold. She offers no clear evidence for her thesis, and she fails to note that anti-LGBTQ bigotry is rampant among many religious conservatives and that various states are very obviously attacking the freedom of LGBTQ people.
Kafer mentions that various media outlets have criticized the Archdiocese of Denver for anti-LGBTQ bigotry (my term, not Kafer’s). But that is not an attack on freedom of religion. (I wrote about this yesterday.)
In place of evidence, Kafer speculates that critics of religiously motivated anti-LGBTQ bigory may be “laying the groundwork for government intervention.”
Here is the closest thing Kafer offers to evidence for her thesis:
Lakewood-based Colorado Christian University is one of several faith-based universities being investigated by the US Department of Education for its student conduct policies regarding sex.
She offers no details about this “investigation.” Maybe there’s something troublesome there, but, if so, Kafer does not indicate what it is.
On Twitter, Kafer mentions the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. I’ll give her that one, along with the case of the web designer who does not wish to create sites for gay weddings. I’ve written about that.
Meanwhile, various religious conservatives are trying to legally ban drag story time for children, ban gender affirming care for minors and even for adults, and send in armed government agents to steal children from parents who facilitate gender-affirming care for their children.
Government should respect and protect everyone’s rights. Yet, if we look at the scale of harm, what some religious conservatives are proposing that government do to LGBTQ people is orders of magnitude worse than what some leftists are proposing that government do to religious conservatives.
Protectionism in the Alcohol Industry
Complete Colorado published my article, “Colorado voters swing between freedom and protectionism.” Here’s part of it:
Many voters self-consciously like protectionism, policies that intentionally restrict competition to advantage certain people over others. They probably don’t call it “protectionism,” but that’s what it is.
Here is one such remark: “People told me small liquor stores in Colorado are primarily family—owned small businesses, and that a lot are owned by people of color. That mattered to me—I don’t want to take away their livelihood just so I could buy liquor more conveniently.” . . .
Such remarks indicate a willingness to impose one’s virtue-signalling on others by force of law. What about the many people—including people who own small business and people of color—who want to be able to shop at a wider variety of stores?
The fundamental issue is freedom of association, not someone’s convenience. People have a right to exchange with others by mutual consent. But current laws threaten to punish some people if they sell the “wrong” product without the government’s prior approval.
Quick Takes—Colorado
Antisemitism: “Thornton residents in the Hunters Glenn neighborhood received white supremacist, antisemitic, anti-immigrant and homophobic flyers in their mailboxes the night of Nov. 8,” reports Luke Zarzecki.
Polis: This is a funny headline by John Frank: “Colorado’s Jared Polis talks about running for president.” Well, he’s “talking” about it in the sense that people keep asking him if he’ll run and he keeps saying he won’t. However, the strength with which he denies he’s running is diminishing over time, it seems to me.
More Polis: The governor joined Kennedy on Fox News to discuss his libertarian leanings. He did not mention my paper showing that he is not much of a libertarian.
Even More Polis: The governor’s impressive win “should give him the confidence to show his independence and rein in some of the worst impulses of the state legislature, which remains in his party’s hands,” writes the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel’s editorial board.
Frisch: Adam Frisch came within hundreds of votes of beating Lauren Boebert in what was supposed to be a safe Republican district. Frisch ran a good campaign and made a classy exit. (Kyle Clark praised Frisch and Republican Barbara Kirkmeyer for graciously conceding.) Democrats surely will target Boebert in 2024, and I suspect Frisch will run again.
Lindell: Mike Lindell says the elections that Republicans lost were “stolen.” Of course he does. There’s only election fraud if Republicans lose. Meanwhile, neither Lindell nor Lauren Boebert hinted at any election fraud in her race!
Elections: As Quentin Young points out, “There remain significant pockets of democracy haters throughout the country who, far from being chastened by the humiliating midterm results, are hardened in their antipathy to constitutional order.”
Police: What the hell, Aurora? “Aurora’s newly appointed interim police chief, Art Acevedo, in addition to recently being fired by the city of Miami, has a history of misconduct and was a frequent guest on InfoWars,” writes Heidi Beedle.
Guns: In case you thought Colorado Democrats already have passed plenty of gun-control laws, a group of legislators is organizing to correct you.
Not Funny: Chuck Bonniwell “joked,” “I think dismembering a Washington Post reporter should be allowed.” Sick and wrong.
Quick Takes—National
Atlas Shrugged: Apparently Daily Wire now owns the rights to Atlas Shrugged. If those conservatives attempt to film a version of the novel they will certainly muck it up.
Academia: A taste of Tyler Cowen’s comments on free speech in academia: “What’s the polite way to put this, but some of you are parasites.” “Outside the university you have more than 100x de facto free speech than you did before the internet.” “Don’t let the free speech crusade turn you into an opponent of free speech.”
Nannyism: “It’s really rare, and it’s really new, that people are allowed to know about what’s happening inside their body without a physician in the middle,” Stat quotes an epidemiology professor. “There isn’t an approved at-home flu test.” Sheesh!
Iran: “Iran’s security forces use rape to quell protests,” reports CNN. Many Iranians continue to make a courageous stand against their oppressive, theocratic government.
Housing: Are we in for Mortgage Meltdown 2? CNN: “In a ‘pessimistic’ scenario, US prices could plunge as much as 20%, Dallas Fed economist Enrique Martinez-Garcia wrote in a blog post recently.” An international “house price slump is coming.”
Death Penalty: “Alabama Gov. Ivey seeks a pause in executions after an unprecedented third failed lethal injection,” reports NBC.