No one should die for supporting tolerance and acceptance
Why are Christians pushing lies like "woke people are bad and LGBTQ+ people are coming for your children?"
If you think that you're so smart and holy, that means you haven't yet realized that a part of what we experience today...is a result of our stupidity and wickedness in the past.
Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity
By all indications, Laura Ann Carleton was one person trying to do the right thing for the right reasons. She was trying to show that she valued people for who they were, not who they slept with or their gender identity. She loved people because of their inherent humanity, and for that, she died.
Carleton, a 66-year-old shop owner in Lake Arrowhead, CA, had the audacity to fly a Pride flag outside her store to show her support for the LGBTQ community. She flew the Pride flag not because she identified as LGBTQ, but because she was an ally, someone who wanted to show that her shop was a safe space.
She’d had problems with people tearing down the flag before, but she’d always put it back up and carried on. On the occasions the flag needed to be replaced, she made a point of replacing it with an even larger one.
On Monday, a self-professed Evangelical Christian walked into Carleton’s shop, argued with her using homophobic slurs about her Pride flag, and then shot and killed her. The bigots now appear to be taking their hatred, homophobia, and self-superiority to the next level.
How very Christ-like, eh?
Police identified a man Monday who shot and killed a California business owner last week after he allegedly took issue with a Pride flag she had displayed at her clothing store in Lake Arrowhead, California. Sheriff's officials told NBC News that the killing is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
Travis Ikeguchi, 27, was responsible for shooting Laura Ann Carleton, 66, to death after "yelling many homophobic slurs" about the store's Pride flag Friday, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said at a news conference Monday.
Ikeguchi fled Carleton's store, Mag Pi, by foot and was later killed in “a lethal force encounter" with deputies Friday. He fired at multiple patrol vehicles with an unregistered semi-automatic handgun before officials fatally shot him, Dicus said.
Carleton is survived by her husband and nine children.
She was a threat to no one; all she did was fly a Pride flag. For that, Travis Ikeguchi determined that she deserved to die. But who appointed him judge, jury, and executioner? And what is it about “Christian” bigots and homophobes that allows them to believe that they’re inherently superior human beings to the LGBTQ community and their supporters?
Jesus never preached against homosexuality; He did, however, preach against hatred, bigotry, and judgment. Or did Ikeguchi choose to ignore those parts of the Gospel because he found them “inconvenient” because they didn’t dovetail with his prejudice and homophobia?
As much as the shooter themselves is at fault here, this is also the fault of Ron DeSantis, Christine Pushaw and Chaya “LibsOfTikTok” Raichik, who started all of this “LGBTQ people are ‘groomers’” shit. It’s the fault of right-wing polemics who jumped right on that train and ran with it once they realized it was going to be a smash hit for them.
They didn’t want to be called bigots for hating LGBTQ+ so they made up a bunch of nonsense about how they were pedophiles who were out to “groom” children with drag queen storytimes and pronouns, they started crying out about pride flags and accusing anyone displaying one, any business celebrating Pride Month, of somehow being in on some mass conspiracy to molest children.
Why? Because all the GOP had left was culture war nonsense that seemed like it should have died off a decade ago and they needed something to reel their voters in. It’s hardly as if their economic message is exactly resonating with anyone these days — it’s simply not the right time for “give rich people more money and the wealth will just trickle down.” But the old tactics didn’t work, because most people had largely come around on LGBTQ+ rights. So they had to go with “Actually, they’re trying to molest children and that’s our problem with them. We are heroes, not bigots!”
All they have left is hate, all they have left is “woke people are bad and LGBTQ+ people are coming for your children and white people are being ‘replaced’ in some capacity.” So that’s what they doubled down on.
The sad and sick thing about what’s happening is that people like Travis Ikeguchi are hiding behind “Christianity” and using their “faith” as a smoke screen for being psychopaths. This has nothing to do with the Christian doctrine of love, acceptance, tolerance, and understanding- all things their Lord and Savior DID preach about.
No, this is about hatred and bigotry- the belief that those who are LGBTQ are sodomites who, if they refuse to change their ways and come to Jesus, deserve to die, for their lives have no value as they are. The bigots and homophobes have for so long proclaimed the LGBTQ community to be “groomers” and “pedophiles” that they’ve become convinced by their own rhetoric.
They ignore entirely that most pedophiles are White Conservative Christian heterosexual males. Of course, admitting to that truth would mean recognizing the need to clean up their own house…and that ugly and inconvenient reality doesn’t fit their narrative. And so they continue to project their hatred and fear onto a minority community that doesn’t deserve it and wants only to be left alone to live in peace.
All the bigots and homophobes have left is hate because Americans aren’t buying the rest of their program. The only way to keep the sheeple scared and stupid is to find a convenient scapegoat and demonize the shit out of them. That’s where the LGBTQ community comes in. They’re different and make Conservatives feel all “ooky” inside, and so they make a very convenient target.
According to the New York Times and her family, Carleton went by Lauri. Her murder is being investigated as a hate crime, San Bernardino County Sheriffs officials told NBC News.
The New York Times reports that, according to Carleton’s family, every time some idiot tore down or vandalized the rainbow flag outside her clothing store, Mag.Pi, she made a point of replacing it with a larger one.
In a surprise to absolutely no one, Ikeguchi’s Xitter account was a sewer of anti-LGBTQ+ hate, calls for a nationwide abortion ban, and conspiracy garbage mixed with “Christian” messages about how everyone needs to get saved.
Asked for comment on His alleged follower’s actions, the Lord Jesus Christ explained He had already made clear to Ikeguchi, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoer!”
The late creep’s pinned tweet, a fake photo of a rainbow flag in flames, was pretty typical of the account’s content. And pretty typical of a lot of hateful content all over X/Twitter. See how he added “P” for “pedophile” to “LGBTQ,” wasn’t that a fun joke?
Yeah, this guy was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ…in the same way I’m a South Beach rent boy.
The very definition of “psychopath,” don’tchathink?”
For their part, Carleton’s family responded perfectly to questions about the psychopath who killed someone they loved:
Officials said Monday that Ikeguchi — a resident of Cedar Glen, California — had a history of making posts that were critical of the LGBTQ community and law enforcement on multiple social media platforms, including X, formerly known as Twitter.
In response to a request for comment about Monday's news conference, Carleton's daughter, Ari Carleton, said her "family doesn’t care" about Ikeguchi.
"We will continue to steer the narrative away from him and towards my mother and honoring her. He is irrelevant," she said in a direct message on Instagram. "The media must stop glorifying these individuals by giving them this platform."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, condemned the shooting Sunday, calling it "absolutely horrific."
“This disgusting hate has no place in CA,” Newsom wrote on X.
Ms. Carleton, of course, is spot on. We must stop glorifying those who commit such horrific crimes. Yes, they should be identified and their horrific ideology exposed…and then be roundly forgotten, shoved to the bottom of the ash heap of history where they belong. Their memory should decay along with their rotten carcass.
Laura Ann Carleton did nothing wrong. The flag she flew was a message to the LGBTQ community (and everyone else) that all were welcome in her store. That she died for sending such a message because one psychopath objected to her message of love and acceptance is tragic beyond measure.
Ironically, her killer referred to himself as “pro-life” and “Christian.” Then he murders someone living the teachings of the Savior he professed to revere. How “pro-life” is that, eh? And as for the “Christian” part of that equation…I don’t need to elaborate on my feelings regarding that hypocrisy.
Laura Ann Carleton was one person doing the right thing for the right reasons, and she certainly didn’t deserve to die for it. That she was murdered for being a good person is sad and tragic. It demonstrates that bigots, haters, and homophobes are, in some cases, taking their divisiveness to the next level.
How do we stop that? Can that type of violence be stopped before more bodies drop? Lone wolves can be difficult to detect and prevent, especially psychopaths committed to their “cause.” Sadly, Laura Ann Carleton won’t be the last victim, and copycats may follow what happened Monday.
Being kind and compassionate shouldn’t come at the risk of one’s life. Making it clear that you welcome people from all walks of life should be a safe and risk-free step…and yet, in today’s America, it may no longer be that. Extending a welcome to all may put you on a psychopath’s radar, and that person may not like what they see.
But we can’t live in fear of psychopaths. We can’t allow the fear of how “Christians” and “pro-lifers” may react to gestures of kindness and compassion we may extend to others to curtail those efforts. If a simple gesture of that sort is enough for some to want to kill me, then this isn’t a world I want to continue living in.
Those who aren’t Christians but still believe in things like love, tolerance, acceptance, kindness, and compassion must find common cause with others and model that behavior at every opportunity. I don’t care if they’re Christians, Muslims, Jews, Satanists, Teamsters, Baristas, or even Packers fans or Sounders FC supporters. The many of us willing to stand up against the few bigots and haters will make this world a better place. And all it means is that we push back when we see bigots and haters being assholes to those simply trying to be who they are.
That’s it. That’s all.
Love is easy. Hatred takes a significant energy investment and can be quite taxing, physically and psychically. It shouldn’t be a difficult choice.
Above all else, I still firmly believe that love wins because it must. If we live with that belief at the forefront, hatred and bigotry don’t stand a chance. And those “Christians” and “pro-lifers” who feast on hatred, bigotry, and homophobia can suck donkey balls.
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A meme I saw said something to the effect that, "they will murder you for a flag, then weep about how divisive the LGBTQ community is."
This is truly one of the most execrable and pointless crimes on record. To be executed for displaying a flag, any flag, is an obscenity. But what flummoxes me the most about this is that I'm not seeing enough of a response from our civil society that this kind of activity demands. Yes, we are awash with extremists who hyped up by Trump, and other acolytes like him, have taken his rancid language as a waiver to commit atrocities. So It frustrates the hell out me that, despite finally recognizing the threat of these actors, we are not identifying them and branding them with the appellation of terrorist, because that's what they are. What needs to happen is that we need to start labeling these people as terrorists and terrorist organizations. Then the Patriot Act could be employed against them just like we employed it, often unfairly, against Islamic terrorists. I believe that if we did this we could disrupt and diminish many of these threats before they come to fruition. But because they're White Evangelical Christians we label them hateful, or hate groups, but don't use the blunt instrument of the PA to respond to them with the urgency that is needed. And because of it too many times we end up waiting and dreading when the next WEC terrorist will act instead of proactively interdicting them before they do. It's not nice to say but I'll say it anyway; the fact is, some of these people need their social media accounts taken down, their communications monitored by fiat, their right to own weapons revoked, and if necessary, to be killed before they have a chance to kill others, real talk. Prosecuting Trump and his minions is a vital part of it, so bravo to the DOJ for that. But this is a rolling, boiling crisis of epic proportions that we're treating like a low simmer, and if we don't act more decisively more of us are going to be burned by it.