At least four gay bars in Nashville have received flyers featuring the type of assault rifle used in the Pulse nightclub massacre, in what some are calling a form of “targeted hate mail.”
Melvin Brown, owner of Stirrup Sports Bar, found the flyer in the bar’s mailbox last week. Brown said he believes whoever created the piece of mail was intending to send a “very deliberate” threat, reports News Channel 5 Nashville.
The flyers feature the letters “LGBT,” with a picture above each letter. Above the L is a picture of the Statue of Liberty, above the G is a picture of the assault rifle, a bottle of beer is above the B, and a picture of Trump is above the T.
“We live in a post-Pulse world in the LGBTQ community, especially in the bar scene,” Brown told NBC News. “To see somebody send a postcard that had a picture of the weapon used in one of the deadliest assaults in this nation’s history, and one that happened at an LGBTQ bar, and to send that image to LGBTQ bars, to me is not a coincidence.”
The postcard had a “MAGA” stamp on the back of it and has a return address that traces back to an empty lot in downtown Nashville.
Brown also believes the postcard may be trying to provoke a certain reaction prior to this year’s midterm elections. At least three other gay bars received identical flyers.
Chris Sanders, the executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project, also believes the flyers were politically motivated, because Stirrup Sports Bar and other gay bars often host voter registration drives.
“This has a very aggressive tone about it,” Sanders told NBC News. “It doesn’t use many words, but it uses a lot of images I think are meant to threaten us. The community’s message back is, ‘Yes this is frightening, but we’re going to turn out and vote regardless.'”
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said the department is aware of the incident, but there is no investigation at this time.
The Group American As F*ck, a veteran-owned clothing company that specializes in shirts and jerseys with funny or conservative memes, contacted Metro Weekly to claim credit for the original design, with CEO Shawn Wylde saying the design was meant to be funny.
“For what it’s worth, the image that we created has nothing to do with shootings or hate. It’s quite popular in the pro-Trump gay community,” Wylde notes. “It was created prior to the Pulse Night Club tragedy…. We really hope it wasn’t sent with hateful intent.”
Brown says that if the flyers using that logo were sent to gay bars as some form of threat, rather than in jest, they won’t intimidate people, but will rather “galvanize” them into taking action.
“People will respond in ways that are positive and uplifting, because that’s the way we choose to live our lives,” he said.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include comment from the clothing company American As F*ck, which claims credit for the original design.
Several LGBTQ candidates were successful in yesterday's "Super Tuesday" primaries, with some winning their party's nomination and others moving on to runoff elections.
Candidates appeared on the ballot in six different states: Texas, California, Arkansas, Tennessee, Vermont, and North Carolina, with several candidates poised to become historic "firsts" should they emerge victorious in general elections later this year.
In Texas, Molly Cook, running in the Houston-based 15th State Senate District, placed second, with 21% of the vote.
Because none of the Democratic candidates in the primary reached the 50% plus one vote threshold needed to win the primary, Cook will face off against State Rep. Jarvis Johnson in a runoff election on May 28.
Joshua Debarge Lucas was arrested and charged with kidnapping after holding a transgender woman at gunpoint at a motel while demanding ransom from her friends and family.
The incident occurred on January 14 at the Saturn Motel in Miami's MiMo District. Lucas and the victim, a transgender woman who "suffers a speech impediment and other issues" allegedly hooked up while high or under the influence of substances, according to police.
As Lucas began to sober up, he realized that the woman was transgender and lashed out at her.
According to police, the victim texted a friend "call me" just before 5:45 p.m. on Friday. That friend, and another, called the victim on FaceTime and saw her in tears after she picked up, reports Miami ABC affiliate WPLG.
José Rolón, who has 150,000 followers on Instagram and over 500,000 followers on TikTok under the user name @nycgaydad, found himself bombarded with threats from right-wing users after conservative commentator Stew Peters tagged him in an Instagram video.
In the video, Peters called Rolón a "creep" and a "pervert homo," and called for his public execution. He also accused Rolón of "criminal sexual conduct," tagging the New York Police Department and urging them to investigate the gay widower.
"Some pervert homo has access to at least four kids around the clock all the time," Peters said, misstating the number of Rolón's children. "He can take them to drag conventions and then post the evidence, post pictures and videos of criminal sexual conduct … and somehow not end up in jail, or better yet, the gallows."
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