Republicans like Trump are framing the Orlando massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub as an act of radical Islamic terrorist. The fact is, these murders had nothing to do with Islam: it was an act of hatred aimed at a social minority, motivated by conservative and religious intolerance of people who are different.
This attack is like the church shooting in Charleston last year, the abortion clinic shooting in Colorado Springs last November, the bombing of the Otherside Lounge (a gay bar in Atlanta in 1997), plus numerous other attacks on gay bars over the last 50 years.
The Orlando shooter was a nut who hated gays, just like the Charleston shooter was a nut who hated African Americans, and the Colorado Springs shooter was a nut who hated people involved with abortion.
It looks like Mateen was a lone wolf who had nothing to do with ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. Yes, he called 911 to proclaim his allegiance to them. But why?
Mateen's choice of targets tells the real story. He was an American, born and bred, and he knew that if this was written off by the media as an attack on gays by a homophobic nutjob, it would be immediately forgotten and he would lapse into obscurity like the dozens of conservative Christian nutjobs who have committed the same crime.
But when he pledges allegiance to ISIS he suddenly becomes an infamous Muslim terrorist and can sow terror and fear into the hearts of every American, not just the small percentage of Americans in the LGBT community.
By attacking a gay nightclub, Mateen made it clear he was motivated more by the recent flurry of bathroom bills in Florida, rather than a radical Islamic agenda.
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