Lauren Boebert Can’t Believe People Are Linking Her Anti-LGBTQ+ Rhetoric to the LGBTQ+ Club Shooting

Colorado representative Lauren Boebert has a well-documented history of demonizing the LGBTQ+ community—but in the wake of Saturday’s mass shooting at Colorado LGBTQ+ nightclub Club Q, she’d prefer that people forget about everything she’s ever said and definitely not link her hateful rhetoric to the uptick in violence against the community.

On Tuesday, while speaking to Ross Kaminsky, a radio host at Colorado’s KOA station, Boebert called it “disgusting” to blame her for what happened over the weekend or accurately note the various ways she’s vilified LGBTQ+ people. “That is completely false,” she said, falsely. “I have never had bad rhetoric towards anyone and their personal preferences as an adult.” Then, because she’s a bigot—and not a very smart one at that—she immediately added: “What I’ve criticized is the sexualization of our children. And I’ve criticized men dressing up as caricatures of women.” While most rationale people would agree that children should not be sexualized, Boebert, like many on the right, equates allowing gender-affirming medical care for trans youth with child “grooming.” She also believes that drag queens pose a threat to children just by simply existing, and we know this because she’s previously said as much:

On the subject of Drag Queen Story Hour events like the one above—during which a drag queen literally just reads stories to kids—Boebert bizarrely suggested that they operate like strip clubs, telling KOA, “We don’t need six-year-old children putting dollar bills in the thongs of grown men shaking and twerking in front of children…That is child abuse.” She added that she would continue to speak out against the “grooming” of children, a term that has been co-opted by the right to describe behavior by LGBTQ+ people they don’t like, rather than the way child molesters lure their victims.

In addition to previously smearing the LGBTQ+ community online, Boebert has attacked legislation like the Equality Act, which protects transgender youth. Last year, on the House floor, she urged her colleagues to vote against the measure, saying, “Where is the equity in this legislation for the young girls across America who will have to look behind their backs as they change in school locker rooms, just to make sure there isn’t a confused man trying to catch a peek?” On Sunday, after Boebert tweeted that the victims of the Club Q shooting were in her “prayers,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded: “@laurenboebert you have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common sense gun safety laws. You don’t get to ‘thoughts and prayers’ your way out of this. Look inward and change.”

In related news from the far right, Tucker Carlson followed up his Monday night show—in which he claimed that we have no idea what motivated the Club Q shooter—with a guest who matter-of-factly stated that the massacre occurred because of gender-affirming care, adding that such tragedies would likely continue to happen until the practice was stopped.

Donald Trump is taking his Supreme Court loss in stride

Elon Musk continues to kill it at Twitter

And by kill it we mean kill his advertisers. Per Insider:

In the 25 days since Elon Musk took over Twitter, half of its top 100 advertisers have stopped advertising on the platform, according to the research center Media Matters. Since 2020, those 50 companies have accounted for nearly $2 billion in advertising revenue. This year alone, they spent $750 million, Media Matters said. Some of the companies—like Chevrolet, Ford, and Chipotle—have publicly announced that they were stopping advertising on Twitter. Media Matters says the others are “quiet quitters,” because its analysis of Pathmatics data shows that they have stopped advertising for a “significant period of time.” Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, and Meta are among those who have pulled their advertising budgets away from Twitter, according to Media Matters…. The media center cites “direct outreach, controversies, and warnings from media buyers” as causes behind those companies’ decisions.

Prior to officially becoming the company’s owner, Musk claimed that he would quintuple the company’s annual to $26.4 billion by 2028. He does not appear to have issued an update on that goal.

If the number of secret children he has is anything to go by, Herschel Walker’s erections are indeed “about the people”

Election denial is reaching new levels of absurdity in Arizona (The Washington Post)

Gunman walked into break room and shot colleagues, Walmart employee says (The Washington Post)

Walker took a tax break in 2022 for his Texas home even after launching a bid for Senate in Georgia (CNN)

Bankman-Fried issues mea culpa in letter to former FTX employees (FT)

Feds battle Trump over outside review of seized Mar-a-Lago documents (Politico)

Did Naomi Biden Undermine Democracy With a Closed-to-Press Wedding? (No) (Jezebel)

Ukrainian energy systems on brink of collapse after weeks of Russian bombings (The Washington Post)

Earth Now Has 8 Billion Humans. This Man Wishes There Were None. (NYT)

Behold Carrot, the 67-pound goldfish caught in France (The Washington Post)