Libs Of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik posted a tweet scrutinizing an organization in Colorado that, in Raichik’s words, “teaches kids how to become drag queens and helps kids ‘safely experience the art of drag on stage.'” Raichik also tagged two specific Colorado state lawmakers who have supported the organization in the past. This tweet came the morning after the shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Matt Walsh is asked if he sees a link between pharmaceuticals and genetically modified food, and whether it’s affecting how people see gender. Walsh buys the theory and alludes tangentially to a report he saw about sperm counts among men have decreased significantly over the years. Walsh can’t confirm the correlation between genetically modified food and gender dysphoria, but does think that “…clearly there’s something in the food.”
Tucker Carlson claims to be frustrated with the media and liberals for pointing he is culpable for violence that what happened in Colorado Springs because his past calls for Fox News viewers to arm themselves against Drag Queen Story Hours.
There will be two articles in this one post. This terrorism, it is minority rule by violence. This is to drive fear and intimidation for a political goal. What the right cannot win at the ballot box because it is unpopular with the majority that has accepted the LGBTQ+ as members of society, the right will try to enforce via violent threats that incite the killing of people. The rest of society must stand up to this attempt to promote their religious morality anti-tolerance of others of this Taliban wannabes. Dogs that love gravy, if we give into these people on this we will be forever giving in to them. Hugs
A local chapter of the far-right Proud Boys plans to disrupt a Dec. 3 drag story event in Columbus, Ohio, just two weeks after the killings at a LGBTQ night club in Colorado Springs.
The Columbus Proud Boys announced their plans to disrupt the kids story time event held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus on Telegram last Tuesday.
Advance Democracy, Inc., a non-partisan, non-profit research organization, first flagged the post. The emphasis of a “wild” protest is likely a reference to Jan. 6. Trump had called on his supporters to attend a rally on Jan. 6, 2021, promising that it would “be wild!”
Earlier this year the leader of an Ohio Proud Boys faction was arrested for punching a black woman in the face after screaming the N-word. In August, a man linked to the Proud Boys was killed following his attack on Cincinnati’s FBI office. The photo above is from last month when Proud Boys menaced a drag event in North Carolina.
They’re a terrorist threat, not simply a protest, and should be viewed by law enforcement as such. No one should be intimidated—much less killed—for going about their lives.
Watched the local CBS affiliate evening news last night. They interviewed the straight owner of the new drag complex in Cleveland about safe spaces and the safety of drag brunches.
Proud Boys at Raleigh rally, November 2020 (Credit: Wikicommons)
A local chapter of the far-right Proud Boys plans to disrupt a Dec. 3 drag story event in Columbus, Ohio, just two weeks after the killings at a LGBTQ night club in Colorado Springs.
The Columbus Proud Boys announced their plans to disrupt the kids story time event held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus on Telegram last Tuesday. Advance Democracy, Inc., a non-partisan, non-profit research organization, first flagged the post. The post read:
The Columbus Proud Boys would like to announce that we will be attending the Holi-drag Storytime being held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus on December 3rd! We look forward to meeting all of the attendees and welcome Americans from all over to join us. It’s gonna be wild! Stand by for details…
The emphasis of a “wild” protest is likely a reference to Jan. 6. Former President Donald Trump had called on his supporters to attend a rally on Jan. 6, 2021, promising that it would “be wild!” Many of attendees of that rally, including members of the Proud Boys, later marched on the U.S. Capitol, attacking police officers and storming the building.
While the Proud Boys is probably best known for its role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol—for which several members face seditious conspiracy charges—the far-right, neo-fascist group is also known for its members’ presence at the 2017 white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where one counterprotester was murdered. Since the failed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Proud Boys members have focused their efforts locally, disrupting school board meetings over mask mandates and LGBTQ-inclusive policies, and harassing attendees of drag story events, fearmongering that trans people are “grooming” children.
Already this year, the Proud Boys have disrupted drag events in Texas, Nevada, North Carolina, and California. In Idaho, the right-wing extremist group Patriot Front took it a step further; 31 people associated with the organization were arrested after they were found in a trailer full of weapons next to a Pride event.
The post by the Columbus Proud Boys announcing its plans to disrupt the Columbus event has been viewed more than 1,600 times. Just 45 minutes after posting, the post was further promoted by the Official Cape Fear Proud Boys, a North Carolina-based chapter that coordinated multiple efforts to disrupt drag events in the past six months. It was also shared by an Ohio Proud Boys channel and “the Infamous Legend Valley Proud Boys” channel, which shared an image the following day promising “Ohio Proud Boys Season Beatings.” On Monday, the Legend Valley Proud Boys shared a meme calling for violence against perceived perpetrators of pedophilia.
A meme posted on the Legend Valley Proud Boys channel. The image depicts a character in the “Walking Dead” who randomly choses a victim and kills him with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed-wire.
The Dec. 3 event is sponsored by Red Oak Community Schools, a school dedicated to fostering “students’ sense of their place and power in the natural world and in their communities.” A Facebook page promoting the event describes “Holi-drag Storytime” as “a new family-friendly, LGBTQ+ holiday tradition” in which local drag queens “will read stories for children of ALL ages and perform a few holiday numbers!”
Of course, the Proud Boys have alleged that the event amounts to “grooming”—the rhetoric at the heart of recent political attacks on LGBTQ people. A video posted the Columbus Proud Boys channel last Thursday called on members to “stand against grooming” and provided the address of the church. “All I want for Christmas is an end to child grooming. Help Saint Nicolas scold the Naughty groomers,” text in the video reads, calling on members to arrive before 10 a.m. Another image shows a picture of Santa Claus giving the middle fingers. “Its rally time boys!” a final message reads.
Right Wing Watch reached out to Red Oak Community Schools and the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus. We will update this story should either respond. The church’s website describes it as a place to “come together to grow in religious depth, valuing freedom, reason, tolerance, love.” Shortly after the Proud Boys’ announcement, Red Oak Community Schools said they meet hate with love and invited donations, posting on Facebook, “For every nasty comment, dislike, negative email, phone call, etc. we receive about our upcoming FABULOUS fundraiser, we’re collecting donation pledges for a local LGBTQ+ organization.”
The Proud Boys’ announced plan to disrupt the event came just days before a lone gunman targeted patrons of a gay night club in Colorado, killing five people and injuring 25 others. LGBTQ leaders have noted that this attack follows years of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and an increasing number of Republican politicians characterizing trans people as “groomers.” Religious-right groups have drafted anti-trans legislation, encouraged lawmakers to sponsor such legislation, and laid the groundwork for their passage through disinformation and pressure campaigns, a Right Wing Watch investigation found last year.
On the Sunday morning following the attack on Club Q, Democratic Colorado state Rep. Brianna Titone said such rhetoric was to blame. “When politicians and pundits keep perpetuating tropes, insults, and misinformation about the trans and LGBTQ+ community, this is a result,” she wrote.
Notice they learned from the civil rights movement and their loss of the war on gays. They know now to attack a vulnerable group before the public fully supports them for equality , attack them before they gain equal civil rights. Also cloak their hate and attacks under the fake guise of protecting the children. Make it seem the ones they are pushing hate and harm on are the real villains trying to harm little innocent kids. We have to get the truth out there and protect the trans kids / community that is being demonized, denied healthcare that the majority of medical organizations support, all to advance a political message driven by religious hate. Hugs
LGBTQ rights supporters gather at the Texas State Capitol in 2021 to protest the previous round of Republican bills restricting transgender equality.Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images
Republicans’ midterm debacle could have led the party to conclude that centering an assault on the existence of transgender people is not a winning electoral strategy. But it didn’t. Instead, the GOP is doubling down on its crusade against LGBTQ people. The most vivid example can be seen in the Texas legislature, which saw the introduction of 10 separate bills designed to criminalize gender-affirming care for trans youth, criminalize drag shows, ban trans kids in sports (again), limit changes to gender markers on the birth certificates of minors, and limit discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
For those who are not terminally online, the continued attacks on LGBTQ rights, especially those around drag shows, may seem baffling. Those plugged into the online right’s anti-trans extremism, however, will not be surprised. The blitz in pre-filed anti-LGBTQ bills in Texas is the logical legislative follow-up to the chaotic and threatening scenes outside of drag shows, pride events, and children’s hospitals this past summer. Several LGBTQ events throughout Texas drew protests from neo-Nazis, proud boys, and Christian nationalists—while the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club, a group of LGBTQ anti-fascists clad in all-black armed with AR-15’s, were present to provide community defense.
These extraordinary events were partially the result of a moral panic pushed by far-right online influencers such as Chaya Raichik, who runs the notorious Libs of TikTok account. One of the Raichik’s targets was a drag event at the Mr. Misster bar in Dallas. Because of her posts, the drag brunch was surrounded by far-right Christian nationalist protestors, one of whom yelled that the police should go in to the venue and put to “go in there and put bullets in all their heads … that’s what the badge is for.” The following Monday, Tucker Carlson covered the protest and opened with “another weekend in Weimar Germany,” a reference to the extremist view that the “degeneracy” of Weimar Germany—particularly its LGBTQ community—necessitated the rise of the Nazi party to restore “traditional” values. This talking point is commonly repeated in radicalized far-right forums.
The right’s obsession with drag shows is producing dangerous legislation in Texas. Two nearly identical bills introduced on Nov. 14, H.B. 643 and H.B. 708, would classify venues with drag shows as “sexually oriented business” in the same vein as strip clubs. Both bills define drag as “a performance in which a performer exhibits a gender identity that is different than the performer’s gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers and sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience for entertainment.”
New laws would criminalize the parents of trans children and open the door to theirarrest. That definition would encompass every trans person who so much as sings or dances in any public venue and would attach criminal penalties for venue owners if a minor is present. The bill is so broad that it could theoretically apply to a trans person singing the national anthem at a Dallas Mavericks game. Even when only applying it to the intended target of drag shows, it would add onerous restrictions that could essentially eliminate drag shows in the state of Texas.
Since the bill adds the new provisions to an existing statute, additional regulations would attach. Local municipalities with restrictions around “sexually oriented businesses” such as proximity to schools, churches, homes etc. could apply making it near impossible to feasibly host drag shows. Venue owners where drag is performed could be required to pay a $5 fee per patron to the state and post anti-sex trafficking posters in restrooms. Most importantly, it would give Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has already called for the criminal prosecution of drag queens, the ability to file suit against venues who violate the law.
The obsession with drag is not isolated and much of the current moral panic was stoked online, as well. Throughout the summer, Libs of Tiktok began targeting children’s hospitals around the country for providing gender-affirming care, leading to Boston Children’s Hospital receiving death threats and bomb threats to its campus and the homes of providers.
Texas is no stranger to political attacks on health care for trans youth. In late 2021, the GENECIS clinic at the Children’s Medical Center in Dallas that provided gender-affirming care closed as a result of political pressure from Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott. The clinic began accepting new patients again only after a provider filed suit against the state alleging improper political influence as the reason for its closure.
Earlier this year, Abbott, relying on an advisory opinion from Paxton, directed the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate the families of trans minors for child abuse. Abbott’s order resulted in families being investigated by DFPS solely for having a transgender child. Some families went so far as to flee the state of Texas as a result of the threat of state investigations merely for following the standards of care for the treatment of their child’s gender dysphoria. This resulted in a mass exodus at DFPS that has left an agency already mired in scandal on the brink of collapse.
Paxton and Abbott’s plan to punish the parents of trans kids faced road bumps in the courts because Texas law does not actually deem gender-affirming care to be child abuse. Now GOP lawmakers are trying to change that. There are currently three nearly identical pre-filed bills—H.B. 42, H.B. 672, and H.B. 436—that would define gender-affirming care for trans youth as “child abuse” in the Texas Family Code. This treatment is the standard of care endorsed by every major medical organization in the United States. The new laws would criminalize the parents of trans children and open the door to their arrest, while their children would be forcefully separated from loving homes and thrown into a state foster system in crisis.
If labeling loving parents as child abusers wasn’t enough, two nearly identical bills—H.B. 41 and H.B. 122—would make it a felony offense for healthcare providers to perform gender-affirming care. Additionally, the bills would strip liability insurance protections from providers who perform such treatments. In total, there are five bills introduced into the legislature that would criminalize gender-affirming care for both parents and healthcare providers.
The rest of the anti-LGBTQ bills seem almost tame by comparison because they do not criminalize access to healthcare and the existence of trans people in public venues. But that does not mean they wouldn’t cause immense harm. One bill, S.B. 162, would ban changes to the gender marker of a minor’s birth certificate. Another, H.B. 631, is a carbon copy of Florida’s infamous “Don’t Say Gay” legislation that resulted in schools eliminating pride flags, LGBTQ teachers being told to hide pictures of their partners, and LGBTQ students being outed to their parents. Finally, H.B. 23 would implement yet another ban on trans kids playing in sports despite one being passed and signed into law in 2021.
One thing is clear from the bills pre-filed for next session: Texas is at war with its LGBTQ citizens. The urgency to pass these kinds of bills has only been exacerbated by far-right online influencers who seek to eliminate LGBTQ people from public life. It is too soon to say whether any of these bills will pass this upcoming cycle—though history suggests at least some of them stand a decent chance of enactment. If there was ever any hope that the midterm results would cause a hesitation to push anti-LGBTQ bills, that hope is gone now.
In his spiel Tucker spews lies and states they are true even when he says others tell you they are lies. He never mentions that these people are inciting terror and hate, instead he talks about their opinions as if it is something they are quietly keeping to themselves. He is deliberately misinforming and mischaracterizing the situation just as a KKK person burning a cross on a black family’s lawn might claim to just be spreading Christianity, not trying to strike raciest fear into the black community. See if you can spot the misdirection and slight of mouth he uses to compare apples to oranges as if they are the same thing. Hugs
So these horrifying murders in Colorado over the weekend quickly became a pretext for yet more censorship of your speech. You are responsible for this, they told you, because you said the wrong things. You are guilty of stochastic terrorism, inspiring violence by your beliefs.
Anderson Lee Aldrich committed mass murder because you complained about the sexualizing of children. Every time you object to drag time story hour for fifth graders or point out that genital mutilation is being committed on minors — which it is — every time you say that, you are putting people’s lives at risk.
Now that seems implausible and yet many are making this claim. Many have made it over the past 24 hours. Watch for example Brandy Zadrozny of NBC.
When you point out the truth, indisputably, and the truth is that some adults in this country, apparently a growing number, have a deeply unhealthy fixation on the sexuality of children — when you say that out loud, you get people killed.
That is what Brandy Zadrozny is saying. And by saying that, Brandy Zadrozny and the many people like her are effectively defending that same deeply unhealthy fixation on the sexuality of children.
By the way, it’s absolutely real. You’re not imagining that. It’s happening. The evidence is everywhere. And it comes to light on the internet. And Brandy Zadrozny and people like her hate that you are seeing that.
Notice that Zadrozny is not claiming that Libs of TikTok is making this up. She never even suggests that. She is threatening them, you should know, and she’s doing that because they’re pointing it out. Noticing it’s happening is their crime. And once again, it is happening.
Damn, Damn, Damn it. This is beyond cruel, this is pure gloating that she and her hateful ilk are causing people to hurt and harm, kill gay and trans people to push their ignorant views of denying the right of others to exist. She did this after a person killed and injured people in a gay establishment where drag shows happened. This is not religious liberty, this is demanding a segment of the population stop existing and that it is OK to kill them. She knows she will suffer no consequence for her actions, her incitement of violence and killing. Musk loves her hate and bigotry as he is full of it himself. The republicans won’t do anything to stop her as she is activating their base something they like. This is why I push back on her and people that say things like her. Anytime you let the misinformation, lies, and hateful rhetoric pass unchallenged you are giving ammo to the domestic terrorists and those that target the minorities for harm based on that misinformation, lies, and hate mongering. Take the teeth out of people like elected republicans, Matt Walsh, and Libs of TikTok by not letting their garbage stand uncorrected. Hugs
Colorado Shooting vigil (Getty Images)
Anti-LGBTQ+ social media account Libs of TikTok attacked a Colorado kids drag organization just hours after the Colorado Springs shooting, in which five were people killed.
Following the devastating shooting on Saturday (19 November) Libs of TikTok, run by Chaya Raichik, attacked non-profit organisation, Dragutante.
Dragutante is a Colorado-based group created to provide a safe stage for aspiring drag performers aged eight to 18.
Posting on Twitter the account wrote: “This organization in Colorado teaches kids how to become drag queens and helps kids ‘safely experience the art of drag on stage.”
It then tagged Colorado state representatives Leslie Herod and Brianna Titone to claim they have “promoted and encouraged this child drag organization and performance”.
Owner of the account, Chaya Raichik, who has branded herself a “stochastic terrorist” in her Twitter bio, has since been slammed for the role she has played in stirring up hatred against the LGBTQ+ community in the months leading up to Colorado Springs shooting.
LGBTQ+ activist Erin Reed used Twitter to accuse Raichik of allegedly “gloating” about “instigating LGBTQ+ violence in the wake of the Colorado Springs mass shooting”.
Reed wrote: “She lists herself as a ‘stochastic terrorist’ in her bio” and pointed out that, when confronted about the role she plays in anti-LGBTQ+ attacks, she responds “sarcastically”.
Raichik responded: “I put stochastic terrorist (the term they’ve been using for months to describe me) in my bio to trigger the Left. Mission finally accomplished!”
I put stochastic terrorist (the term they’ve been using for months to describe me) in my bio to trigger the Left. Mission finally accomplished! ✅ https://t.co/61TyQ27qeZ
Reed added: “In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, as many have reported, she targeted LGBTQ+ family friendly drag events (which Club Q was going to have today for TDOR [Transgender Day of Remembrance]).”
“We have entered a new phase in anti-LGBTQ violence.
“They’re openly gloating and mocking because they know they now have a permanent platform for this in Twitter.”
Another Twitter user wrote: “This is 9 hours apart. Chaya Raichik (@LibsofTikTok) is bragging about inciting the attack.
“She knows she’ll get away with it.”
This is 9 hours apart. Chaya Raichik (@LibsofTikTok) is bragging about inciting the attack. She knows she’ll get away with it. The last time she posted about Colorado was weeks ago. This is not a coincidence but open gloating that she’ll never face accountability for her actions. pic.twitter.com/okio0zoBQE
This speaks for itself. There is a direct correlation between the republican / right wing media targeting on the trans, gays, and all LGBTQI+ and the violence / domestic terrorism attacks on LGBTQI+ establishments and drag queen events. As Democrat AOC said, you can connect the dots right back to the republicans and their don’t say gay bills and their constant attacking trans kids. Lauren Boebert cluelessly tweeted out prayers for the family of those killed at the Q nightclub but never mentioned the dead or injured nor her own vicious attacks on gays / trans people for political advantage. She inspires acts like these. Hugs
Daniel Aston
The mother of trans victim Daniel Aston, killed in the Colorado Springs shooting, has spoken out after the attack on Saturday (19 November), calling on lawmakers to “have a voice” for the LGBTQ+ community.
Aston’s mother Sabrina spoke to Colorado Public Radio (CPR) shortly after the deadly shooting, claiming that he was the “happiest he had ever been” while working at Club Q.
“He was thriving and having fun and having friends. It’s just unbelievable. He had so much more life to give to us and to all to his friends and to himself,” she said.
‘The trans community are the biggest targets’
Sabrina added her son “knew he was trans when he was four”, and started transitioning shortly after graduating from college.
“I always worried about it… He’s a trans man and the trans community are really the biggest targets I can think about it right now.”
Sabrina said she and her family wanted to speak out about what happened in order to bring more “exposure and acceptance” about the trans community, with LGBTQ+ Americans targeted with several laws affecting healthcare, education, and more in the past year.
“We need to get our legislators and our people high up to have a voice for us… Those are our children, we do not care how you dress or what you identify as. It doesn’t harm anybody,” she said.
People have gathered near Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to honour and remember the five people killed and at least 25 people wounded in a mass shooting. (Getty)
President Biden has condemned the “senseless attack” in an official statement, calling for an end to “violence against LGBTQI+ people” after the horrific shooting.
“Gun violence continues to have a devastating and particular impact on LGBTQI+ communities across our nation and threats of violence are increasing,” he wrote.
“We saw it six years ago in Orlando, when our nation suffered the deadliest attack affecting the LGBTQI+ community in American history. We continue to see it in the epidemic of violence and murder against transgender women – especially transgender women of colour. And tragically, we saw it last night in this devastating attack by a gunman wielding a long rifle at an LGBTQI+ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
“Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence. Yet it happens far too often.”
The president added: “Today, yet another community in America has been torn apart by gun violence. More families left with an empty chair at the table and a hole in their lives that cannot be filled.”
This kind of hate is created by those including right wing media, right wing Christian hate preachers, and republicans in office that are demonizing the LGBTQ+. By constantly shouting into the ears of their faithful / viewers that gays are molesters, groomers of children, sexually abusing your child, that the trans / gays are recruiting your child, that teachers are indoctrinating your innocent kids into sexual experimentation and orgies … all this and so much more vitriol that the right is spewing just incites this kind of stuff. Is this what you pay your elected officials for? Is this what you want your religion to be known for?
At least five people were killed and 18 injured late Saturday in a shooting at an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub in Colorado Springs, the police said early Sunday morning.
Lt. Pamela Castro, a public information officer with the Colorado Springs Police Department, said at a news conference outside the nightclub, Club Q, that the investigation was only beginning and that the number of victims was subject to change. She added that the victims had been taken to multiple area hospitals.
After the police received an initial call about an active shooting at 11:57 p.m., Lieutenant Castro said, officers entered the club and took into custody an individual they believed to be a suspect. The suspect was also injured and was being treated at a hospital, Lieutenant Castro said.
Police officers had entered the club overnight as they responded to reports of the shooting and located “one individual believed to be the suspect inside,” Castro said.
She said the casualty toll “is subject to change as the investigation continues,” adding that ambulances and police had transported “numerous people” to hospitals. The hospitals are helping to notify families of the victims, she added.
Capt. Mike Smaldino, spokesperson for the fire department, said 34 firefighters and 11 ambulances were dispatched to the scene to help quickly move people to hospitals.
The club was reportedly planning to hold a drag brunch today to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
There was a mass shooting at my job tonight. I am alive. Please pray for my community. #coloradosprings#clubq
#Breaking: Colorado Springs Police first got the call around 11:57pm for a an active shooter at Club Q. Again, they confirmed five dead and 18 injured. They are taken to local hospitals. The gunman was injured in this. Not sure if by police or civilian. pic.twitter.com/cpcIhSfWzZ
Not just conservative. It is a hotbed of evangelicals, like Ted Haggard, and is also where the evangelicals work to make sure the Air Force academy there stays rigidly Christian.
Waiting for words of condolence from DeSantis for the victims. Of course, the politicians trying to protect the children from grooming who used gays as scapegoats for their political ambition had absolutely nothing to do with this sad, sad occurrence.
They want us to live in fear. There’s no way to “ethnically cleanse” gay people from anywhere. Now another murderer is about to be purged from society. We still exist. He will get to write hateful manifestos from prison, but society will still have gay people because we will refuse to live in fear.
Gay kids will still be born, and we will be here as long as there are people, we’ll remain. He will not change that fact. We will still love each other, but no one will remember or love him.
The far-right fascist QAnonGOP and Nazi scum are doing all they can to silence and cancel lgbt Americans! Of course the motive will turn out to be homophobia and/or anger at the drag brunch due to radicalization by far-right fascist social media.
The media are partly to blame, but a lot of the media are merely reporting what the goddamned rethugs are doing with their don’t say gay tirades, grooming crap, and transphobia. It is just a game for those bigots. Part of their attempt to encourage homophobia to garner votes.
Proud Boys at Raleigh rally, November 2020 (Credit: Wikicommons)
Scottie's Playtime 