The Inconvenient Truths Behind Mass Shootings: Challenging the False Narrative of Anti-LGBTQ Hatred

Last month marked the one-year anniversary of a mass shooting at the “Club Q,” a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs. The shooter, who killed five people and wounded 19 others, received multiple life sentences in June for his crimes, as well as an additional sentence for “bias-motivated” crimes. This seemed to confirm the popular narrative that the shooter targeted the LGBTQ community out of hate.

However, it is important to examine the facts behind this narrative. Just days after the shooting, The New York Times suggested a connection between the murders and several conservative Christian ministries headquartered in Colorado Springs, including Focus on the Family. Other media outlets also leveled this accusation, and vandals spray-painted the words “their blood is on your hands” on the entrance to Focus on the Family.

The truth is that every victim of the Club Q shooting was a person of inherent dignity and value, not reduced to their sexual identity. The same can be said for the case of Matthew Shepard, whose murder was framed as a clear hate crime. However, research has shown that Shepard had a long history of drug use, engaged in prostitution, and had a sexual relationship with one of the men who killed him. The police believed that the murder was related to drug money, not Shepard’s sexuality.

Similar inconvenient details can be found in other tragedies, such as the 2016 shooting at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub. While it is now cemented in cultural memory as a hate crime against gays, it is not clear that the shooter was even aware that the Pulse was a gay club.

It is important to recognize that there is little evidence to support the claim that “anti-LGBTQ hatred” has led to many mass shootings. In fact, there is more evidence suggesting the opposite. The shooter at Covenant School in Nashville identified as transgender and targeted the Christian school on purpose. An LGBTQ activist also stormed the headquarters of the Family Research Council with a gun, motivated by politics.

The problem with perpetuating false narratives is that they ignore the real problems facing the LGBTQ community, such as substance abuse, mental illness, and violence. By conditioning them to be afraid of a nonexistent threat or to view their suffering as someone else’s fault, we are not helping them. Hard truths may be difficult to accept, but they are more loving than false narratives.

For more resources on living like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit breakpoint.org.