The Far Right Is Already Attacking the Club Q Hero - VICE
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Richard Fierro, the Army veteran who tackled and disarmed the shooter inside LGBTQ Club Q in Colorado Springs, is currently receiving a torrent of hate and harassment from far-right extremists.
The far-right has is calling Fierro a "groomer" and a "f*ggot," while questioning his sexuality for being at the Club Q drag show. Others even questioned the veracity of his entire story, according to an investigation conducted by VICE News and researchers at Advance Democracy Inc, a nonprofit that tracks online extremism.
Far-right troll Jack Pososbiec was one of the first people to do this. "Are we just not supposed to talk about the US Army Major taking his family down to the local drag club for a night out?" Pososbiec asked followers on multiple platforms Tuesday morning, including on Truth Social where he has 960,000 followers and on Telegram, where he has over a million.
"Heroes don't take their kids to drag shows," one of Posobiec's followers wrote on Telegram in response.
Others joined in: "So a married man, His Wife, Daughter and her boyfriend all go to Gay bar together? I'm gonna call bullshit on this," a user on far-right Christian platform Gab wrote on Tuesday.
"If it's not bullshit he's helping to molest children and he's all for it," another Gab user wrote in response, adding: "F*ggot dad in closet."
The attacks on Fierro are just one part of a concerted and consistent response from right wing influencers and conservative media outlets to diminish and question the horrific killing of five people inside LGBTQ nightclub Club Q on Saturday night. Figures like Posobiec, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and anti-trans troll Matt Walsh have been doubling down on attacks against the LGBTQ community for years, increasing these attacks in regularity and toxicity in recent months, with accusations that members of the LGBTQ community are sexualizing or "grooming" children. Trans activists have warned that violent responses would be imminent, to little avail.
Fierro was in Club Q on Saturday night with his wife, daughter, and his daughter's boyfriend. They were there to see one of his daughter's friends perform in a drag show at the Colorado Springs venue that has been described as one of few safe spaces for the LGBTQ community in the city.
Fierro was sitting at a table joking with a friend when he saw a flash of gunfire and instinct kicked in.
"I don't know exactly what I did, I just went into combat mode," Fierro, a veteran with 15 years of experience and four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, told the New York Times this week. "I just know I have to kill this guy before he kills us."
Fierro tackled the gunman, disarmed him and beat him with the shooter's own gun before pinning him on the ground with help from others until the police arrived. Before Fierro disarmed the shooter, the gunman killed five people at the club, including his daughter's boyfriend. Without Fierro's actions, police have said the death toll from the attack would have been much higher.
But for far-right trolls on platforms like Truth Social, Gettr, Parler, Gab, and Telegram, Fierro's actions should not be met with praise, but with vitriol and anger.
On The Donald, a rabidly pro-Trump message board frequented by violent extremists, every thread about Fierro's actions included questions about what he was even there in the first place.
On a hugely popular QAnon channel on Telegram, Fierro's presence at Club Q instantly raised suggestions that the entire incident was a false flag. "Whole thing sounds like a staged event," one channel member wrote under a post that had been read almost 70,000 times.
On Gettr, there were similar reactions to posts about Fierro's heroics: "So a gay libtard shot up a bunch of gays and a gay ex Soldier helped take him down, there's more to this, something smells fishy."
Another Gettr user wrote in the same thread: "Gay men dressing up like women and mocking women is misogyny. Anyone who supports this is a misogynist. This man is not a hero. He just hates women."
There were many on these platforms who praised Fierro's actions, but after years of conditioning from figures like Posobiec, Carlson, and Walsh, as well as Republican lawmakers, most people on these far-right platforms were inclined to attack anyone that had anything to do with a drag show immediately.
Though the motives of the Club Q shooting suspect are unknown, he is facing possible hate crime charges. And for months, members of the LGBTQ community as well as organizations who provide care for the trans community have been targeted with far-right disinformation campaigns which in many cases have turned into real world violence and threats..
Last month, protesters in Eugene, Oregon, threw hand grenades and rocks outside a pub that was hosting a drag queen storytelling event. Other attacks against the LGBTQ and trans community have been on the rise as well: The Boston Children's hospital was targeted with bomb threats after far-right figures posted about the hospital's gender affirming care online and wrongly accused healthcare providers of "mutilating" children. In September, a pride center was vandalized in Florida.
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Roving once again that there is no bottom to the American right.
“…there is no bottom to the American right.”
The palpable fear of not understanding an entire community that may not adhere to their preconceived and rigid notions of morality.
It is in fact they who are immoral and only confirms their shallow, self-righteous vindictiveness.
When I think they couldn't sink any lower, they always find a way
My question would be if the3 right is CREATING these racists and bigots, or simply ATTRACTING them? One thing is for sure though, they accept them with open arms.
the right's base is a coalition of the worst fringe segments of american culture.
Speaking as a normal moderate Republican, that is simply not true for the vast majority of the right
funny how the GOP has such a hard time showing bigots to the door, unlike others...
My question would be if the3 right is CREATING these racists and bigots, or simply ATTRACTING them?
To use their language, I think think they are grooming them.
Ain't that the sorry truth of the matter in a nutshell
Everyone should try and mind their own business, although I'm sure that will never happen.
Although I have never been to one, I'm pretty sure that "drag shows" have been around a long long time and have always been patronized by both straight and gay audiences. There are also many examples of men dressing as women in movies and tv. When I was a little kid two of my uncles (straight) dressed as women for a Halloween party. I know this because there are photos.
Just being at a gay bar or club does not make one a "groomer". Or gay.
Right wing social media is a slime pit.
Every time we see my stepson, either here for a visit or meeting up on vacation, etc. somewhere, he always mentions finding a drag show somewhere as something to do. We haven’t followed through on it yet, but it’s clearly top of his entertainment list. I don’t know that I would enjoy it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more fun than I imagine it to be. Being that he is a special agent with the FBI he’s always packing, so there’s a good likelihood that an active shooter would get cut down in seconds. How sad that getting murdered by a hopelessly intolerant sleaze bag in a venue dedicated to entertainment and tolerance is even a possibility.
I have been before. We had a good time. It was just people trying to have fun.
Contrary to how some believe, the ones I have been to, there was nothing sexual at all.
here's a small fraction of a list of actors that have performed in drag for entertainment purposes, specifically directed towards the age group of those that are most offended...
jonathan winters, milton berle, bob hope, red skelton, broderick crawford, sammy davis jr, harvey korman, tim conway, jack lemmon, tony curtis, dustin hoffman, etc, etc, etc...
Finocchio's was fun back in the day.....
that's a bold admission.
Why is that a bold admission?
My wife and her kids are big fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I’ll watch it with my wife, and it is pretty entertaining. Not high enough on my list to watch religiously but surprisingly palatable. As I’ve said a million times before, I don’t get the lifestyle, but it’s not important that I don’t get it. It’s not mine to get and I have no objection to people living how they want to live as long as they aren’t harming anyone in the process. The problem is that so many conservatives insist that it is harming others, hence the right’s obsession with the word “grooming”.
When ever I hear the right wing complain about something, they are usually doing it themselves.
Men dressed up as women have been entertaining audiences since at least ancient Egypt and Greece though I would not be surprised if they find evidence of cave men doing so. Only recently have modern day. gop Neanderthals made it all something dirty and sexual. Except for serious "Illusionist" impersonation artists most drag queens are in on the bawdy humor which is inherent of men in drag.
Don't forget these three...
So true Hal, so true. What's so hard about live and let live for so many?
I'm not sure which was first but Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was fantastic
I've been to drag shows in New Orleans and Berlin years ago. Last month, my wife and daughter went with another wife and daughter to a drag show brunch and had a good time.
Am I the only one that had never heard of Gab, On The Donald or Gettr before this article?
Sadly, if the nut cases had been confronted with an active shooter, they would have pissed their pants not attacked and disarmed the shooter.