Mass shooting at LGBT+ club follows wave of threats to drag performers and venues

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Mourners placed Pride flags and flowers at a makeshift memorial Earlier this week, officials in Texas introduced several bills targeting transgender people and drag performances, including a bill that would classify any business that hosts drag shows as a “sexually- oriented businesses” and defining a performer as anyone whose gender identity is different than the one assigned to them at birth. Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic and a former staff attorney at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, said that the bill would define drag as “essentially any trans person performing at all.” “A trans actor in a musical singing would suddenly make it ‘drag’ and thus result in the play venue being labelled a ‘sexually-oriented business,’” she wrote earlier this week. “It is imperative to protect every single person in our communities – especially our most vulnerable, on which gun violence has taken an enormous toll.” Sarah Kate Ellis, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said “you can draw a straight line from the false and vile rhetoric about LGBTQ people spread by extremists and amplified across social media to the nearly 300 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year, to the dozens of attacks on our community.” “That this mass shooting took place on the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, when we honour the memory of the trans people killed the prior year, deepens the trauma and tragedy for all in the LGBTQ community,” she said in a statement on Sunday morning. We cannot and must not tolerate hate.” In a separate statement recognising Transgender Day of Remembrance, the president said he is urging state leaders “to combat the disturbing wave of discriminatory state laws targeting young transgender Americans – legislation that hurts young people who aren’t hurting anyone.” This year, state lawmakers introduced at least 344 measures that target LGBT+ people, according to the Human Rights Campaign.