But that's a cop-out. Just phoning it in here in their aftermath exudes a, "I really don't care anymore" attitude.
As if we at HD in Effect have become as cold as those who take assault rifles to rupture bodies of America's endangered humans. It would be turning eyes away from their suffering, and justifying it by saying, "Well, it's just going to happen again."
We won't post the fringe "False Flag!" and "They're trying to repeal our 2nd Amendment right to guns!" chants the NRA crew lobs following these events.
Or the "Ban all auto assault weapons!" roars from liberal lions.
(On that latter point though, we will note that drunken drivers killed over 10,000 Americans in 2013, per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, yet no national calls to outlaw cars has ever existed. In comparison, armed people reportedly killed 13, 286 Americans last year, barely outstripping intoxicated drivers.)
As more news on the shooter poured in, we've abandoned the histrionics for one question: Could Omar Mateen have been a latent homosexual whose internal battle combusted last Sunday?
Reports note he communicated with guys via dating apps for gay men, frequented the gay nightclub he shot up and even tried picking up a former male classmate.
Of course, it isn't that simple; we can't chalk this 100 percent to Mateen's sexual discretions when he reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIS during his rampage. But it might hold some credence.
A 1996 University Of Georgia study was done to "investigate whether homophobic men show more sexual arousal to homo-sexual cues than nonhomophobic men as suggested by psycho-analytictheory."
True to form, that study showed that 54 percent of men identified as homophobic were highly aroused by a male homosexual video. Only 24% of men identified as non-homophobic responded in that same manner.
Mateen's father claims his son recently became "very angry" after he saw two men making out before his wife and son. The investigation continues regarding Manteen's motives, but his possible repressed sexuality deserves further attention.
That attention, however, will do nothing if not supported by a larger look at the structures behind America's hatred of LBGTQ folks. That last statement should be ironic, in a country where gay marriage is now legal in all 50 states and bathroom bills protecting trans rights gain daily traction.
But those advances have unfortunate equalizers, or rather, xenophobic adversaries in every "Kill The Gays" pastor's hate speech, artificial chicken restaurants donating to "traditional" family foundations and politicians indirectly calling for death to gays.
With every legislatory advancement that might benefit our LGBTQ breadrin, another murderous attack on a trans-youth in Jackson Heights, Queens or someone spraypainting anti-gay fare on a restaurant pops up.
It would be dangerous forus to ignore the elephant in this room-the same mastadon that likely influenced Mateen-religion. A quick end to that topic-one Republicans have made passe-is scream at the black president to scream "Radical Islamic Terrorism!" and walk away.
But "Radical" Christianity, "Radical" Catholicism and "Radical" Judaism are even cozier in that massacring bed than their Middleeastern counterpart. Since when have those committing American atrocities in religion's name beenlimited to Islam alone, after all?
Detaching the "terrorist" narrative from these ideologies and replacing with the "homophobic" one, it is accurate to suggest that the above religions have heavyanti-gayproblems.
Even with denominations or figureheadsof those religions that embrace homosexuals, their dominant narrative still stands taller: being gay is a sin. While that idea is losing some ground with religious Americans, Orlando made it clear that it does influence our interactions with homosexuality, sometimes in deadly ways.
So where do we go from here? Religions, and the hateful atmosphere they can create, aren't going away anytime soon.
Maybe us millennials, who are way more open to LBGTQ people than prior generations, will make sure more tolerant Christian, Islamic and Catholic strains overtake their predecessors. Or maybe those religions will never change and human advancement will ensure they go the way of the dodo bird.
Did Mateen's sexual urges collide with a belief system against those desires last Sunday?
Who's to know right now? We're speculating. Just like all of you. And dreading doing this again once the next Omar Mateen happens while we hash this out.
Credit for picture goes to http://www.gq.com/story/orlando-shooting-history-of-violence