Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who has made gun ownership and anti-LGBTQ policies a regular part of her MAGA platform, tweeted her thoughts and prayers on Sunday for the victims of the deadly Colorado LGBTQ nightclub shooting. But her sentiments caused outrage in the LGBTQ community, with many calling out her hypocrisy—including Chasten Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s husband, who slammed her on Twitter: “You encourage this type of hatred. Get off Twitter and start looking inward.”
The shooting, which took place Saturday night during a drag show at Club Q in Colorado Springs, claimed 5 lives and injured 18 others. One suspect, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, is in custody.
Although local authorities have not declared a motive for Saturday’s shooting, the assault came just minutes before the national Trans Day of Remembrance, celebrated on Nov. 20, which recognizes lives lost to transphobic violence.
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“The news out of Colorado Springs is absolutely awful,” Boebert, who barely won reelection in tight race against Democratic challenger Adam Frisch, tweeted on Sunday morning. “This morning the victims & their families are in my prayers. This lawless violence needs to end and end quickly.”
But Boebert has built her political career on both celebrating gun rights and trolling LGBTQ citizens.
The QAnon-curious congresswoman owned a gun-themed restaurant with her husband (until it closed in January of this year) and, after a school shooting in Michigan, tweeted a picture of her young children holding guns around the Christmas tree. Earlier this year, in the wake of the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that claimed 21 lives, Boebert argued against gun regulation, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity, “When 9/11 happened, we didn’t ban planes...”
Boebert has also been vociferously pushing homophobic rhetoric and anti-LGBTQ policies, telling drag queens to “stay away from the children in Colorado’s Third District,” and pondering whether coming out of the closet on issues like sexuality or gender should be restricted by government.
“We require people to be 21 to purchase alcohol beverages, and 21 to purchase tobacco products,” Boebert tweeted on April 1. “Why is it so unreasonable to require people to reach a certain level of maturity before making life-altering decisions about their sexuality and identity?”
In May, the representative also claimed that the left was “grooming” children after a North Carolina teacher resigned over using gender-inclusive flashcards.
