Murdered because she displayed a Pride flag

[RedRosa]

"A dispute over an LGBTQ+ pride flag at a California clothing store spiraled into deadly violence this weekend when a man shot and killed the 66-year-old business owner right in front of her shop."

The victim was Lauri Carlton who I knew slightly through a friend who shopped at her clothing store in town, not the one at Lake Arrowhead where she was murdered.

I never thought in 2023 I’d need to make a post like this but here goes.

There is an increase of violence towards the LGBTQ population, including their allies which I find unacceptable on every level.

Here’s what I have to say about that.

1- If you are comfortable with your own sexuality, you’ve no reason to be threatened by anyone else’s. Unless, of course, you are fearful of your self. What an ugly and boring world this would be without the art, fashion, design, writings, dances, love, beauty the LGBTQ community has given us.

2- Your God ( if you believe) didn’t make you because you are perfect. Humans are imperfect. Imperfect doesn’t mean flawed. It means no two are the exact same. In the animal population it has been found that roughly 10% of even animals are thought to exhibit gay behavior. I’m pretty sure any God or Goddess or carbon explosion I believe created living things meant every living thing to be here perfectly imperfect. Being ‘straight’ doesn’t mean you aren’t some weird, kinky freak secretly doing some pretty weird crap.

3- I have been surrounded by the gay community most of my life as someone who was actively employed in many forms of the arts -- theatre, writing, dancing, music -- and I can tell you I prefer their company any day over some zealot nutjob with so much hate in their head covered by a ridiculous red hat.

I have witnessed the misery of LGBTQ people because of the hatred directed against us by people who actually hate themselves and are ashamed of the most natural drive in humankind…sex.

I hope I never have to live with myself the way some of these people live -- all that anger and hatred turned outward.

Yes, I’m upset.

Here's what I have to say to those haters:

You are now targeting my family and my friends.

If I run into you, if I encounter you anywhere -- you do not frighten me. You disgust me.

Get some help for yourselves.

To harm another human being for simply being born with a different orientation than you is pure ignorance and speaks more for your own inner struggles than theirs.

I am and will always side with the LGBTQ community. Period.

[MarieGreen]

There are haters in the UK too but we don't give them guns.

I'm sorry if this offense but the religious right in the US seems baffling to me. How can you be pro life and also pro gun? How can you read the Bible as I did as a child and not get the message of love to one another and sharing of wealth? How can you not get the contradiction that the only life that's important to those of this persuasion is pre birth with f all social security for those in poverty? But most of all even if you believe homosexuality is wrong, and I certainly don't, why the f can you not remember the messages in the Bible about love and tolerance?

Don't like gay people? Fine don't be one. But I hope they throw the bloody book at the murderer. I'm so sorry for your loss. X

[RedRosa]

There are haters in the UK too but we don't give them guns.

There's a powerful pro-gun lobby in the U.S. which makes gun control difficult to accomplish, a whole other issue.

I'm sorry if this offense but the religious right in the US seems baffling to me...

The religious right in the U.S. is off the rails when it comes to sexuality. Don't ask me why; it's beyond my comprehension. Obviously, the message of love and tolerance is lost on them.

...I hope they throw the bloody book at the murderer. I'm so sorry for your loss. X

The cops killed the guy in a shoot out, but that won't bring back Lauri.

Thanks for your concern Marie.

[VirgoGirl]

The world is full of ignorant people walking around with so much hatred in themselves. It's not just in America but everywhere. I do believe (and you can curse me for saying this if you want....i don't care, the truth hurts) that religion is the biggest culprit when it comes to intolerance and hatred towards what you are brainwashed into thinking is wrong and right. I just can not understand why people occupy themselves with other's business....unless of course what those others are doing is illigal and immoral i.e. crime, murder, rape, molestation, abuse ect. But a person's religious beliefs and or sexual orientation should be of no concern to you at all. Live your fucking life and let others live theirs. Everyone deserves and has the right to love and receive love as they choose to in this life....no one has the right to dictate to anyone how they should live their life or what they should believe in.

I quote Jewel: "Faggot....do you hate him, cause he's pieces of you"?

Im terribly sorry for your loss and how it went down. Humans can be very cruel.

[MarieGreen]

I agree with you Virgogirl. But having been brought up in Christianity (albeit no longer a believer) I think the religious 'right' with Christian beliefs need to bloody read the parts about tolerance.

[moonbynight]

This one hits close to home for me as well - my grandparents lived near there, so I spent a lot of my childhood in that area.

It also hits close to home because apparently the shooter was very into Jordan Peterson, who I largely credit for radicalizing my ex.

[RedRosa]

...It also hits close to home because apparently the shooter was very into Jordan Peterson, who I largely credit for radicalizing my ex.

Yikes! Jordan Peterson is a reactionary crackpot. He's a revanchist defender of the patriarchal order and all that it stands for.

[Kea]

...It also hits close to home because apparently the shooter was very into Jordan Peterson, who I largely credit for radicalizing my ex.

Yikes! Jordan Peterson is a reactionary crackpot. He's a revanchist defender of the patriarchal order and all that it stands for.

What do You mean by "patriarchal order?"

[RedRosa]

What do You mean by "patriarchal order?"

The patriarchal order is the domination of men over women. "Patriarchy," writes Adrienne Rich, "is the power of the fathers, a familialial, social, ideological, political system in which men -- by force, direct pressure, or through ritual, tradition, law and language, customs, etiquette, education and division of labor -- determine what part women shall or shall not play, and in which the female is everywhere subsumed under the male."

Peterson's philosophy of life, which he believes to be ordained by God and validated by nature, is one of hierarchy and domination. As far as I can tell, this is the common denominator of right wing philosophy in its various iterations.

[Kea]

What do You mean by "patriarchal order?"

The patriarchal order is the domination of men over women. "Patriarchy," writes Adrienne Rich, "is the power of the fathers, a familialial, social, ideological, political system in which men -- by force, direct pressure, or through ritual, tradition, law and language, customs, etiquette, education and division of labor -- determine what part women shall or shall not play, and in which the female is everywhere subsumed under the male."

Peterson's philosophy of life, which he believes to be ordained by God and validated by nature, is one of hierarchy and domination. As far as I can tell, this is the common denominator of right wing philosophy in its various iterations.

Thank you for the definition. The problem is that if one asks another what patriarchy is, the answer will be different depending which theory they base their answer from. The sociology say this, the biology say that, the evolutionary psychology explains another and the feminists asserts a lot.