In the never-ending quest to exonerate Islam of responsibility for atrocities committed in its name and in accord with its teachings, the latest scenario is that Omar Mateen had homosexual desires and was deeply conflicted, finally lashing out violently against those who represented the tendencies he hated within himself. As the New York Daily News puts it here, he was just a “homophobic maniac,” not an Islamic jihadi, and his attack had nothing whatsoever to do with Islam.
It may actually be true: maybe Mateen was lashing out violently against those who represented the tendencies he hated within himself. But why did he have this hatred? Growing up in a devout Muslim household in which the father praised the Taliban, he no doubt learned that homosexuals were vile and should be put to death, in accord with Muhammad’s command. That his apparent revulsion at his gay attractions resulted in mass murder is a consequence of his religious and cultural milieu: he was a devout adherent of a religion that mandates death for homosexuals, and the son of a man who supports a group that puts gays to death (even as homosexual behavior is rampant in Afghanistan). So when he decides to strike out against what he hates within himself, he doesn’t just go and preach at gays, or join an ex-gay group. Instead, he commits mass murder at a gay nightclub. Muhammad, the Islamic prophet who commanded that gays be put to death, would have been pleased. What better way for a conflicted gay Muslim to counter on Allah’s great scales the weight of his homosexual activity and get back into Allah’s good graces than by killing a large number of gay Infidels?
Also, Mateen scouted out Disney as a possible location for a jihad attack. Was that because he was conflicted about his attraction to the Seven Dwarfs?
“Orlando shooter was regular at Pulse gay club; former classmate says Omar Mateen was homosexual,” by Edgar Sandoval, Chelsia Rose Marcius, and Ginger Adams Otis, New York Daily News, June 13, 2016:
Omar Mateen lived a double life.
The homophobic maniac who murdered 49 people inside Orlando’s gay-friendly nightclub Pulse Sunday morning had been hanging out there for three years — and chatted with men via online dating services like Grindr, said multiple witnesses who claimed to have firsthand knowledge of Mateen’s habits.
Mateen’s family said his bloody rampage was sparked by anti-gay hatred.
But his ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, when asked on CNN Monday if he was gay, sat in silence for a few seconds before answering, “I don’t know.”
She said Mateen — who she married in 2009 but left months later, claiming he beat her — confessed to her that he liked to go nightclubbing.
“When we had gotten married, he confessed to me about his past — that was recent at that time — and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife,” Yusufiy said. “So, I feel like it’s a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn’t want everybody to know about.”
As rumors circulated that Mateen had been hiding a double life, his father Seddique Mateen insisted Monday his son was not gay.
“It’s not true. Why, if he is gay, would he do this?” said the elder Mateen.
“If it was true I would say yes, if it’s not true I say it’s not true,” he added.
A former classmate of Omar Mateen’s 2006 police academy class, however, said he believed Mateen was gay.
Speaking to WFTV9 in Orlando, the classmate, who asked not to be named, said he was gay in 2006 but had not yet come out about his sexuality.
Mateen had asked him out, the classmate said.
“We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer,” the former classmate said.
“He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him,” he said. “He was always socially awkward,” the classmate told WFTV9.
Mateen, who had married again, this time to Noor Salman who bore him a son, also visited Pulse several times over the past three years, according to club patrons.
One couple, who work together as drag-dancing performers, said they’d seen Mateen as many as a dozen times at Pulse.
“I’ve seen him a couple of times at Pulse, a couple of other people that I’ve spoken with, including an-ex security guard, have actually witnessed this guy at Pulse many times before,” said Callen, who performs as Kristina McLauglin.
“One friend was a security guard there two years ago and she remembers him,” Callen told the Daily News.
He estimates Mateen began showing up about three years ago. Everybody was blown away to realize he was the man responsible for the slaughter.
“It’s shocking to everyone because we saw him there before,” said Callen.
He said one night Mateen got angry about a religious joke and pulled a knife on a friend. But it was nothing the friend couldn’t handle, Callen said….
“As I was onstage he was standing next to somebody, having a conversation, having a good time close to the stage. Later on that night … he was out there dancing with another guy. It could be he just went crazy. Maybe he got radicalized and hated who he was,” Callen said.