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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOrlando shooter Omar Mateen was gay, former classmate says
A former classmate of Omar Mateens 2006 police academy class said he believed Mateen was gay, saying Mateen once asked him out.
The classmate said that he, Mateen and other classmates would hang out, sometimes going to gay nightclubs, after classes at the Indian River Community College police academy. He said Mateen asked him out romantically.
We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer, the former classmate said. He asked that his name not be used.
He believed Mateen was gay, but not open about it. Mateen was awkward, and for a while the classmate and the rest in the group of friends felt sorry for him.
He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him, he said. He was always socially awkward.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/orlando-shooter-omar-mateen-was-gay-former-classma/nrfwW/?ecmp=pbp_social_twitter_2015_sfp
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Chris Hayes on MSNBC also interviewed someone about 30 minutes ago about this same story.
roamer65
(36,745 posts)mainer
(12,022 posts)"He must be closeted and panicked"
eastwestdem
(1,220 posts)David__77
(23,367 posts)How convenient.
writes3000
(4,734 posts)David__77
(23,367 posts)And I imagine that plenty of the Islamic State people engage in homosexual sex, actually.
writes3000
(4,734 posts)No matter what, this guy was influenced by terrorist rhetoric.
Behind the Aegis
(53,944 posts)See, that concept means they can't be real terrorists. Of course, we have heterosexual people high-fiving themselves with some of the most bigoted shit proving they are right about the shooter being a self-loathing GAY! "LOOK! He took a selfie and has "duck lips"! HOMO! I am so awesome because I knew it!"
Behind the Aegis
(53,944 posts)Of course, I still can't get over the fact someone wrote about his "possible" homophobia, "Maybe he was molested at a young age, or had a friend raped by a gay man, we can't just assume it is religion." Fun!
King_David
(14,851 posts)QC
(26,371 posts)so of course it is necessary to find some other explanation.
(If the guy were, say, a Southern Baptist or an Orthodox Jew, on the other hand, there would be no need to tie ourselves in knots over the matter.)
Funny how that works.
Ilsa
(61,692 posts)His religion and his family's culture in their home. NBC said his father, for awhile, had been a promoter of the Taliban, but later disavowed them.
rocktivity
(44,573 posts)Last edited Sun Jun 19, 2016, 02:31 PM - Edit history (2)
On the other hand, a consistent pattern of him being a regular at the Pulse (club) for about three years has emerged. Witnesses are coming forward who had interactions with him and are swearing to the terrorist being a gay man. He also had a profile on a gay dating site...
So far, the patterns of a secret life-leading, self-loathing gay Muslim are much more consistent than anything directed by any of the rival terrorist groups that the terrorist claimed to be with at various times and seeking any kind of religious martyrdom. If this turns out to be factual, many of those demanding we ban and scrutinize Muslims more in America will have egg on their face, yet again.
Orlando residents...say that Mateen was a regular at the club and a homosexual seeking to pick up men. Jim Van Horn, said he once struck up a conversation with Mateen, but his friends pulled him away saying there was something strange about him...Another couple, who work together as drag-dancing performers, said they had seen Mateen as many as a dozen times at Pulse, and that he went to the club to escape his home life.
Chris Callen, who goes by the stage name of Kristina McLaughlin, said Mateen began showing up about three years ago..."It could be he just went crazy. Maybe he got radicalised and hated who he was.
Cord Cedeno says he connected with Mateen a couple years ago on Grindr...Mateen -- whose profile was a pic of him in a tie -- would only say "Hi" over and over. He says he eventually blocked Mateen, but knows 4 friends who say the Orlando murderer remained active on other apps. He says Mateen used Adam4Adam to send shots of his penis to men, but never showed his face...(Cedeno) has no knowledge (of) Mateen...hooking up with a man.
On the other hand, a female user on Plenty Of Fish says Mateen reached out to her 18 months ago. She says he was "nice, normal...mentioned he had a child, but said he was single and looking for a good woman to marry." She told us Mateen...rant(ed) about Islam and the Quran, saying people misunderstood his religion. She says he wanted to meet face-to-face, but she too blocked him because he seemed "emotionally unstable."
Oh, well, this is QUITE inconvenient -- it blows away (if you'll pardon the expression) the anti-American jihadist martyr narrative, and just as the presidential election season was getting under way. All the anger, fear and hate of Muslims that the mainstream media, the Rethugs and the gun industry were planning to cash in on has to be replaced by patriotism and sympathy of the gay and pro-gay victims and another round of gun control talk? What a buzzkill! However, one man's buzzkill is another man's buzz -- we'll jut have to take comfort in enjoying things like this:
rocktivity
Response to rocktivity (Reply #10)
rocktivity This message was self-deleted by its author.
clarice
(5,504 posts)I am also very sure that most of them don't grab an AR-47 and.......well you get the picture.
LoverOfLiberty
(1,438 posts)How would he know it was him?
rocktivity
(44,573 posts)clarice
(5,504 posts)clarice
(5,504 posts)I meant that the whole canard of Gay/not Gay/ might be Gay..is being used to
diffuse the terrorist extremism rational.
Behind the Aegis
(53,944 posts)One reason is homophobia.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)that he was gay and a Muslim and couldn't reconcile the two.
BootinUp
(47,138 posts)he was raised in a very hateful environment. Children aren't born with hate.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)and had CNN on as background noise the entire day - something about saying he wanted to kill his classmates in grammar school - his violence streak went back a very long way.