Sitora Yusufiy, who was married to Mateen in 2009 for three months, made the shocking claim on Brazilian television station SBT Brazil.
Her fiancé, Marco Dias, speaking in Portuguese on her behalf, said that Yusufiy believed that Mateen had “gay tendencies” and that his father had called him gay in front of her...
The bombshell came as a male former classmate of Omar Mateen said he had been asked out romantically by the mass killer, who reportedly was a virtual regular at the Pulse nightclub, having visited it more than a dozen times over the years.
The former classmate said he would hang out with Mateen, hitting gay bars after attending class at Indian River Community College police academy in 2006 — and one time Mateen asked him out “romantically,” according to the Palm Beach Post.
The classmate’s claims came after reports emerged that Mateen frequented the club for years before Sunday’s massacre.
“It’s the same guy,” Chris Callen, a drag queen who performs under the name Kristina McLaughlin, told the Canadian Press. “He’s been going to this bar for at least three years.”
Callen’s husband, Ty Smith, recalled seeing Mateen being escorted drunk from the club.
“Sometimes he . . . would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent,” he told the Orlando Sentinel...
They also shot down claims that Mateen had snapped after seeing two men kissing each other in public.
“That’s bullcrap, right there. No offense. That’s straight-up crap. He’s been around us,” Smith said. “Some of those people did a little more than (kiss) outside the bar…He was partying with the people who supposedly drove him to do this?”
Kevin West, another regular at Pulse, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen used gay dating apps on a regular basis and even messaged him on the gay dating app, Jack’d...
One Orlando man, who refused to be named, told MSNBC that he had seen photos of Mateen on several gay dating apps, including Grindr, Adam4Adam, and Jack’d. He claimed that at least two of the man’s friends had been contacted by Mateen on the apps in the past...
The headline of the Post article obviously understates the case: Mateen didn't just have "tendencies." With that mountain of evidence, there's no question he was gay.
You normally don't associate a black skullcap with homosexuality. And looking at pictures of Mateen, he doesn't have a discernibly gay face. In fact, he has a masculine face. Which makes him that creepiest of characters, a masculine gay guy:
The whole incident makes more sense now. Mateen was partly just a traditional gay-basher, beating up -- or in this case, killing -- that which he didn't like in himself.
Anyway, now that it's turned out that Mateen was gay himself, it'll be interesting to see if the Left treads a little lighter when it comes to the hateful anti-LGBT nature of the crime. (Was it a "hate crime" when Jeffrey Dahmer ate so many of his fellow homosexuals?)
Anyway, now that it's turned out that Mateen was gay himself, it'll be interesting to see if the Left treads a little lighter when it comes to the hateful anti-LGBT nature of the crime. (Was it a "hate crime" when Jeffrey Dahmer ate so many of his fellow homosexuals?)
Mateen must have been awfully conflicted. As someone who reportedly cheered 9/11, he must have wanted to be a good Muslim; his brief marriage was probably an attempt to fulfill that role. But, unfortunately for him, he found himself full of homosexual desire.
So, at one level, Mateen was merely a sexual misfit.
But he was also a serious Muslim.
So the central question is, would he have committed these murders if he hadn't been Muslim? It seems fairly obvious he wouldn't have. The conflict between his religion and his sexuality, his anti-American sentiment, and the shame inherent in not living up to his Afghan father's strict edicts all fed into his murderous spree.
(And the fact that, right in the middle of his murderous spree, he phoned the local police to swear his allegiance to ISIS is a pretty solid clue as to his motives.)
(And the fact that, right in the middle of his murderous spree, he phoned the local police to swear his allegiance to ISIS is a pretty solid clue as to his motives.)
I sometimes wonder if a lot of suicide bombers aren't people whose earthy existence isn't quite working out to their satisfaction. And if they weren't Muslim, if they might be suicidally inclined anyway. But being Muslim gives them cover, or perhaps just an excuse, to do what they might have done anyway. And this way, they get to think of themselves as "noble martyrs" and take a lot of people with them at the same time.
So, yes, it's still basically a Muslim killing. The story just has an unexpectedly perverse twist.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack soon after it happened. Now that some of the details of Mateen's lifestyle have come to light, will they continue to claim his as one of their own, as an Islamic State fighter and hero?
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack soon after it happened. Now that some of the details of Mateen's lifestyle have come to light, will they continue to claim his as one of their own, as an Islamic State fighter and hero?
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It makes perfect sense. I'm just waiting to see if they cover it in the British press. Not so far. I'm wondering how those who called it a homophobic attack will deal with it. I guess it still is in a way.
Its looking more like a lone wolf with psychological issues type of attack than a true radicalized Islamist attack.
His religion is still an important factor though because it must have made it harder for him to accept himself and maybe even gave him the idea that gay people should be killed. He also followed the style of other recent terrorist attacks.
The other guy who was stopped with weapons on his way to a gay event on the west coast was possibly going to do something similar which shows that such an attack could also be inspired by non-Islamic homophobia. With Omar Mateen, like this other guy, I'm feeling more of an individual nutjob vibe than a overall pattern of radicalization.
I love it when Obama and Hillary say banning Muslims from entering the United States will make us less safe. Normal people will find that proposition hilariously absurd. Today Obama, in his incoherent sputtering against Donald Trump, said the Constitution prohibits any "religious test." That's true, for holding federal office. Nobody is talking about making a Syrian refugee the secretary of defense. The "no religious test" objection from our constitutional law professor president is a complete non sequitur.
...being told that homosexuality is wrong by his religion and even messages that gay people should be killed had to play a big part. But I could imagine a non-Muslim ding it, just less likely.
if he was a sociopath he may have been bisexual. My understanding is that many sociopaths are bisexual.
so strange that he took his wife to a gay nightclub. She supposedly knew he wanted to commit acts of terrorism. Wonder what the FBI would have done if she reported him. They ignored his co-workers complaints that Omar threatened to commit acts of Islamic Terrorism, even knowing he had twice visited Saudi Arabia and attended the same mosque as known terrorists. so the FBI might have done nothing.
Steven --
I haven't read much about that guy headed to the West Hollywood parade yet, but yeah, he's undoubtedly another nut job of some sort.
Mark --
Good point. I watched a little clip of his temper tantrum. He kept saying that calling the terrorists "radical Islamist" was not a strategy. The only thing is, nobody said it was a strategy; but you can't have a strategy if you refuse to acknowledge who the enemy is, and the President is, as always, far more concerned with political correctness than with being realistic.
Steven --
A non-Muslim would be far, far less likely to do this sort of thing. It's a lot easier to do when your religion tells you you're a martyr and a hero for doing this. In fact, right after the attack, ISIS claimed his as one of their own.
Jova --
Good point about him being a sociopath.
The authorities seem to have been hamstrung by political correctness in Mateen's case, just as they were in Hasan's case, pre-Fort Hood.
It seems that Homeland Security, the FBI, etc. aren't doing their job, protecting Americans from terrorism. If the President is on t.v., I do not watch him or listen to him because at heart, he is a communist. He could care less about any of the attacks that have occurred in this country. Attacks against Americans are opportunities to feign caring, being a leader, then pushing his communistic agenda. The sooner he is out of office, the better.
-birdie
Birdie --
True. Obama has never felt that jihadists are his personal enemy; white Republicans are.
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