It's been a week since the murder of Laura Ann Carleton. Carleton was a business owner in California who was murdered by a man, Travis Ikeguchi, after a dispute about a Pride flag hanging in her shop. Ikeguchi, who was later killed by the police that same day, was discovered to have had a history of posting of disgusting and violent anti-LGBTQ messages on social media.
A Thursday article on NBC Out delved deeper into Ikeguchi's history of posting this ugliness on social media and how it ties into far-right conservatives smearing the Pride flag itself and the LGBTQ community as pedophiles:
The far right has repeatedly linked the flag to the decades-old trope that links gay and transgender people to child abusers who want to “groom” or sexualize children, a trope that has recently had a resurgence.
“The pride flag does not deserve our respect or deference,” right-wing provocateur Matt Walsh declared in March to his 2.4 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Nearly all of the most depraved attacks on children, tradition, and common sense in modern society happen under the hideous banner of the pride flag.” A day later, Walsh dedicated an over hourlong episode of his podcast, “The Matt Walsh Show,” which is produced by the media company The Daily Wire, to the Pride flag. The episode was titled “The Pride Flag Deserves Our Disrespect.”
Chaya Raichik, who runs the far-right X account LibsOfTikTok, has repeatedly prompted conversations among her nearly 2.5 million followers that appear to take aim at the Pride flag. “Imagine walking into your kid’s elementary school and this is what greets you,” she wrote on X in June, along with an image of what appear to be teachers wearing rainbow Pride clothing and a person dressed in drag. “What do you do?”
You will notice that the article mentioned two prominent anti-LGBT activists - Matt Walsh and Chaya Raichik of the infamous Libs of TikTok. Needless to say, neither was happy it. Both took to Twitter to voice their disapproval:
The question here isn't would the LGBTQ community be blamed for Hurricane Hilary and the recent earthquake in California. It was rather who would do it now that Pat Robertson is dead.
It looks like far-right podcaster Tim Pool takes that spot. But he doesn't blame the entire community. Just drag queens.
Tim Pool says L.A. deserves to be flooded for supporting drag queens, suggests the recent storms are actually God punishing people. pic.twitter.com/OmDm9TAYZ1
— PimToolNews (@PimToolNews) August 22, 2023
 |
| Laura Ann Carleton |
All of these groups (Moms for Liberty especially) constantly yammering "leave our kids alone" are deliberately obscuring the issue when it comes to families in America. If you ask them about LGBTQ families, they either ignore you or try to change the subject. They see our families and our kids as non-existent or unimportant since we don't fit into their so-called perfect, but ignorantly narrow image.
Enough is enough.
LGBTQ parents and their allies are stepping up in Florida to demand that their voices be added to the conversation.
Amid attacks on the LGBTQ community & academic freedom, parents are showing up and speaking out. Today, a new suite of resources is available to help support parents and families navigating these harmful education policies as school returns. Join us: https://t.co/IOA1CgZOo1 pic.twitter.com/3Z9yvnVgxS
— Equality Florida (@equalityfl) August 15, 2023
As many Florida children went back to school last week, a group of parents came together to announce a new support group for LGBTQ+ families.Driving the news: Equality Florida formed Parenting With Pride to teach guardians about new laws affecting queer students via free webinars, track how those rules are implemented in schools, and provide them with resources and support.Why it matters: LGBTQ+ youth have been the target of laws and regulations championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies over the last few years. The approach not only hurts a population of children at higher risk of depression and suicide because of how they're treated in society, advocates say, but also creates a confusing landscape for parents to navigate.What they're saying: "There is a need for answers in Florida right now," Equality Florida press secretary Brandon Wolf said at a news conference announcing the group, "answers to what rights families have and can continue exercising in schools, answers to how the raft of legislation that's targeting those families will be implemented in classrooms, answers to how the system will impact their kids."By the numbers: More than 1,000 families from Pensacola to Key West had joined the program as of last week, Wolf said. An estimated 114,000 LGBTQ+ youth ages 13-17 live in Florida, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank that conducts research on policies and laws pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity.
 |
| Laura Carleton |
Travis Ikeguchi, 27, was responsible for shooting Laura Ann Carleton, 66, to death after "yelling many homophobic slurs" about her clothing store's Pride flag on Friday, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said at a press conference on Monday. Ikeguchi fled Carleton's store, Mag Pi, by foot and was later killed in “a lethal force encounter" with deputies on Friday. Officials said that Ikeguchi — a resident of Cedar Glen, California — had a history of making posts that were critical of the LGBTQ community on multiple social media platforms, including X, formerly known as Twitter.
