Gay Americans are arming themselves to stay alive

“I don’t want to get beaten to death, stabbed and burnt alive,” a slight woman with long blond hair and a checked shirt says. “I want a gun to feel equal.”

She is a member of one of the United States’ fastest-growing gun clubs, the jauntily named Pink Pistols.

Two years after the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, gay, lesbian and transgender Americans are nervous. According to the Human Rights Center (HRC), a US LGBTI advocacy group, 52 gay people were murdered in the US last year because of their sexuality, and 28 transgender people met the same fate.

It’s brought them into lock step with pro-gun groups that haven’t, historically, been all that welcoming of gay people.

Australian journalist Patrick Abboud traveled to the US to meet some of the new gun-toting gay people, for a report to be broadcast on Australian news show “The Feed” on Tuesday.

“There is one murder per week of a gay person purely because they’re gay, and that’s really horrifying. The level of homophobia and transphobia in the USA is out of control and some people told me a gun is the difference between living and dying.”

The Pink Pistols have been nicknamed the “gay NRA,” a reference to the controversial National Rifle Association that is a staunch proponent of pro-gun laws.

“I would never have thought I’d see the LGBTI community siding with incredibly conservative, right-wing, pro-gun advocates that have been publicly homophobic and transphobic — that didn’t make any sense,” Abboud explained.

But after meeting some of the gun club’s members, Abboud said, there was a real fear that had only been stoked by the country’s rabid political landscape.

Disagree with the liberal assumptions in this, that conservatives hate them, won’t stand them, that these groups need guns to be safe.

The group “The Pink Pistols” has existed for years, and most conservative gun owners don’t care that they exist or show up to a gun rights convention. They face more crap from the left, kind of like the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership getting hated on by liberal Jews.

Nor do most conservatives care if a homosexual buys and carries a gun. “Oh, you respect gun rights? Great. Puts you above the far left homosexual who wants to ban guns and hates conservatives ...”

I had a similar conversation with a black liberal. He said he was afraid of Trump’s election, was scared enough to get a gun. I said great, were you asking for advice on classes or where to get a gun?
He was shocked and horrified. “You own a gun?”
“Yes, I do.”
“You have children.”
“Yes, I do, and protecting them is one of the reasons why I have them.”
“Are you a conservative?”
“Yes.”
OMG, OMG, OMG. Then he said that a lot of blacks were scared and thinking about getting guns. I mentioned training options, gun shops. I couldn’t tell if he was equally horrified that I was endorsing his action or my beliefs.

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