Days after deadly shooting at LGBTQ club, Twitter bans group that protects LGBTQ events
Last Saturday's mass shooting at Club Q, an LBGTQ-friendly bar in Colorado Springs, Colorado, came as a shock, but not a surprise, to people who monitor extremism. Meanwhile, Twitter – days after restoring extremists to its pages – banned the account of an anti-fascist pro-gun collective that has been protecting similar LGBTQ events from those who mean them harm........
It's the week in extremism:
Experts foresaw Club Q attack
The mass shooting at Club Q, a longtime haven for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs, came after more than a year and a half of escalating rhetoric against the LGBTQ community from the far-right. The attack, in which five people were killed and 17 injured, follows a longstanding pattern, where the country's extremist far-right fringe latches on to hysterical coverage from conservative media and politicians against a minority group, often with fatal consequences.
Twitter bans account calling for LGBTQ people to arm themselves
A lot has been going on on Twitter. Former President Donald Trump's account was reinstated and, members of the Proud Boys have flooded the platform seemingly without challenge. Every day seems to bring a new controversy.
And while new owner Elon Musk has made waves by reinstating accounts that had previously been suspended, there's at least one longtime account that was newly suspended Tuesday: the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club.
The group has made headlines for appearing, while armed, to stand guard at LGBTQ events in Texas because those events have been increasingly threatened by far-right extremists. But a tweet after the Club Q shooting apparently led Twitter to shutter the group's account.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...b/10765911002/