Domestic Terrorists
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is raising concerns about the safety of people in the LGBTQ+ community.
In a terrorism advisory bulletin, the department warned that “domestic actors and foreign terrorist organizations continue to maintain a visible presence online in attempts to motivate supporters to conduct attacks.”
Lone offenders and small groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and/or personal grievances continue to pose a persistent and lethal threat. In the coming months, DHS expects the threat environment to remain heightened — threat actors could exploit any event to justify or commit acts of violence.
Targets could include public gatherings, faith-based institutions, the LGBTQ+ community, schools, racial and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, U.S. critical infrastructure, the media, and perceived ideological opponents.
A recent report by GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization, found 124 incidents of anti-LGBTQ protests and significant threats targeting specific drag events covered by the media in 2022.
States with the highest number of drag events targeted by protests and threats in 2022:
- Texas (10)
- North Carolina (10)
- Illinois (8)
- Tennessee (6)
- California (6)
- Georgia (5)
A number of the drag events targeted by threats and protests in person were first targeted by right-wing media outlets like Fox News and the Daily Wire, and social media accounts like LibsOfTikTok. The outlets and accounts often misrepresented what would occur at upcoming drag events, spinning them as harmful to children, and protests or threats would follow.
Protests have escalated nationwide against LGBTQ spaces and other venues that feature drag. A Media Matters report from June found that Fox News had devoted more hours to targeting drag queens and transgender people than to coverage of the January 6th insurrection hearings.
Officials in Moore County, NC declared a state of emergency on Sunday, December 5, 2022, less than 24 hours after multiple electrical substations were damaged by gunfire in an apparent act of criminal vandalism. More than 40,000 households remain without power amid freezing temperatures.
Before the outage, insurrectionist and disgraced former military psychologist, Emily Grace Rainey, head of the white nationalist group, Moore County Citizens of Freedom, had been posting vile threats against the LGBTQ community. She actively promoted “protests” of a drag show in Moore County.
In late November, a right-wing bigot wielding an AR-15-style assault rifle killed five people and injured at least 18 at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
This is terrorism. Individuals are encouraged to report any suspicious behavior to local authorities.
