Reports are emerging that the gunman who shot dead 49 patrons of an Orlando gay nightclub and wounded 53 others was himself gay and had been known to regularly frequent the venue over an extended period. Several patrons of the Pulse club say they saw him, publicly a strict Muslim, numerous times quietly drinking heavily at the club, rarely talking or connecting with anyone. But it has also been suggested that he was friendly with several drag queens who frequented the club. A man has come forward to say he chatted several times with the gunman on a gay dating app though the two never met up. His ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, who has accused him of being mentally unstable and abusive, says early in their marriage he "confessed" to her about his past, which now appears to have included his asking a male out for a date in 2006 during his college years. That man has subsequently said he and the gunman would hang out together, alone and at gay clubs. Another Pulse regular said he too had been messaged by the gunman several times this year and had seen him briefly for the first time outside Pulse about an hour before the massacre. Her current partner says Yusufiy had told him she had seen the gunman's father, who has said God will punish gays and has publicly denied his son was gay, accusing him to his face of being gay. It is understood the cellphone and dating app password of one of the men the gunman messaged has been handed to the FBI for investigation. Orlando police and the FBI have yet to acknowledge or comment on this line of investigation. It is well-established that a person conflicted about their homosexuality can lash out at other gays. At the height of a period of gay-bashing on Sydney's gay Oxford Street a decade ago posters were distributed saying many men who bash up gays are themselves gay... "what's your reason?" A number of high-profile and ardent anti-gay rights campaigners inthe USA have subsequently been revealed to have a hidden, gay, life.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 14th June 2016 - 8:21pm