As a correction to paragraph 3 of the July 2 League of Women Voters column on LGBTQ+.
Published reports in the Huffington Post state, “The gunman who slaughtered 49 people in an Orlando, Florida, PULSE nightclub told a police negotiator the attack was a protest against U.S. bombings of Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria.”
Orlando officials released transcripts of three phone conversations between the shooter and a police negotiator. During the second call, Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen, said his assault on the nightclub was “triggered” by a U.S. bombing that killed a top ISIS commander in Iraq weeks earlier. The gunman also told investigators his first target, a local shopping mall, was too well protected so he found a target of opportunity with no protection.
All the major news outlets and most cable news organizations immediately labeled the attack as anti-LGBTQ+.
We now know the truth about the attack. While horrific and abhorrent to all civilized people, the attack was not anti-LGBTQ+ as we were told. Publishing unfounded allegations that promote fear and anxiety do not serve any community and should not be accepted.
Online story link: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/omar-mateen-orlando-police-negotiator_n_57e5b13ae4b08d73b831834a
Mark Allen
Crawfordsville
