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FBI investigating reports that Orlando gunman was a club regular/used gay dating apps

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Breaking now.

AP said:
An official says the FBI is investigating reports that the Orlando massacre shooter had been a regular at the gay nightclub he attacked and had used gay dating apps.

The U.S. official had been briefed on the investigation into 29-year-old gunman Omar Mateen. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday.

The comments follow reports and comments from patrons at the Orlando club Pulse that Mateen was a regular there and tried to pick up men. Previously, his Afghan-immigrant father had suggested Mateen may have acted out of anti-gay hatred, and said his son got angry recently about seeing two men kiss.

That would be an unfortunate unexpected twist.

Mods please close if you feel this thread is unnecessary.
 

DOWN

Banned
So far nobody claims he actually partook in anything gay tho OP

All of this still aligns with the investigations suggesting he frequently tried to stake out places and talk to people who knew the club scene, and then would stake out in person. Nobody in the sources says they ever actually got a date out of him, but rather he would mention his wife and son and he would often sit in the corner alone

It's possible but I don't think we've hit the twist yet as we already knew he was messaging gay men from the club scene on Facebook including a club owner, presumably to get info about the clubs
 

TaterTots

Banned
So far nobody claims he actually partook in anything gay tho OP

All of this still aligns with the investigations suggesting he frequently tried to stake out places and talk to people who knew the club scene, and then would stake out in person. Nobody in the sources says they ever actually got a date out of him, but rather he would mention his wife and son and he would often sit in the corner alone

It's possible but I don't think we've hit the twist yet as we already knew he was messaging gay men from the club scene on Facebook including a club owner, presumably to get info about the clubs

Yup.
 

Jb

Member
So far nobody claims he actually partook in anything gay tho OP

All of this still aligns with the investigations suggesting he frequently tried to stake out places and talk to people who knew the club scene, and then would stake out in person. Nobody in the sources says they ever actually got a date out of him, but rather he would mention his wife and son and he would often sit in the corner alone

It's possible but I don't think we've hit the twist yet as we already knew he was messaging gay men from the club scene on Facebook including a club owner, presumably to get info about the clubs

Jesus. How much sadder of a human being could he possibly be?
 
Doesn't mean he is gay, probably just wanted to meet gay people and kill them.

Yeah my first reaction when I heard this was to wonder if he was scouting the place/people he wanted to attack. Then again him being a closeted homophobe would not be at all surprising and sad.
 

DOWN

Banned
Doesn't mean he is gay, probably just wanted to meet gay people and kill them.
Indeed. The new info easily fits with the staking out and considering ways to go after gay men. Nobody caught him red handed so it's a leap to say he was gay based on this evidence.
 
So far nobody claims he actually partook in anything gay tho OP

All of this still aligns with the investigations suggesting he frequently tried to stake out places and talk to people who knew the club scene, and then would stake out in person. Nobody in the sources says they ever actually got a date out of him, but rather he would mention his wife and son and he would often sit in the corner alone

It's possible but I don't think we've hit the twist yet as we already knew he was messaging gay men from the club scene on Facebook including a club owner, presumably to get info about the clubs
The report I read yesterday said that he was going to gay clubs and tried to start a romantic relationship with one of the guys he was in training with like ten years ago.

That's some pretty long term planning.
 
many Middle-Eastern cultures have stricto sense of ''honor'' in quotation marks where any sign of a woman disobeying or a son having gay tendancies are considered to be ''dishonerable''

in Canada, a Afghan Father and sons killed almost all the females in their family (wife, daughters) out of some bullshit ''honnor'' code crap. They were found guilty).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shafia_family_murders

This Omar closet guy probably was gay and has a super intolerant ultra-conservative Father who hated gays. Out of some bullshit sense of ''honor'' probably decided to kill gays to prove that he wasn't gay. (now technology and witness accounts are showing that he in fact was)

His father was a hateful person, he should be charged as accessory IMO
 

DOWN

Banned
The report I read yesterday said that he was going to gay clubs and tried to start a romantic relationship with one of the guys he was in training with like ten years ago.

That's some pretty long term planning.
He may have considered this over and over. It happens. I haven't seen that story though, got a link?
 
The bad thing to come out of this is the media and society dismissing the whole thing as just an internal issue within the LGBTQ community regarding self-hate but its anything but. Society at large is just widely homophobic, and this widespread homophobia and hetro-normativity being shoved down everyone's throat is what leads to and causes self-hatred, fear, doubt and confusion etc. for closeted LGBTQ people.This is why pride exists and why it matters, but you still have some straight people having some nerve to tell this community to pipe down and keep it to themselves, or ask stupid questions like "why isn't there a straight pride?". Well, just look at what happens when you suppress people like that.

Currently we're seeing the media only focus on this being a terror attack and ISIS and all that, but nobody is talking about the blatant discrimination the LGBTQ community faces in the US. The fact that you have a country debating whether trans people should be able to use public washrooms matching their gender identity, and even these fake ass politicians who are offering "prayers" while condemning and disagreeing with things like same-sex marriage and trans rights, its disgusting. Can't believe nobody is talking about this stuff. This kind of hypocrisy are among the many real issues facing the US, not ISIS, this wasn't even their attack.
 

Dr.Acula

Banned
Reminds me of all those politicians being hard on gay rights getting caught with "rent boys" and cruising in parks and bathrooms and stuff.
 
I was of the mind that gay clubs were a thing of the past. I used to dj gay clubs and they were slowly taken over with straight people, like straight women who did not want to be harassed by straight men and then straight men realizing where the women were at.
 

Slayer-33

Liverpool-2
So a huge homophobe with huge mental problems, clearly and not some "islamic extremist"?

See... This is why you don't jump to conclusions right away.
 

JCX

Member
This is even more sad if true. If segments of society weren't so rabidly anti-gay, he may have been able to just come out and accept his sexuality.

That doesn't excuse him from what he did, since most of us gays can come out without slaughtering a club full of innocents. He's a monster, but a monster made in part by society allowing and sometimes encouraging the moods that could drive a man to be full of such self-hate.
 
CNN was talking about this, club regulars said they had seen him there since 3 years ago. They also had his ex-wife who said he was interested in the gay club scene but didn't act on it. She also said he had mood swings and moments of intense rage. There looks like a lot more layers to his motives.
 

Somnid

Member
It's always surprising what people find unthinkable. This was always a possibility and if that didn't register then maybe reflect about how you internalize things.
 
I was of the mind that gay clubs were a thing of the past. I used to dj gay clubs and they were slowly taken over with straight people, like straight women who did not want to be harassed by straight men and then straight men realizing where the women were at.

LGBT safe (ironically shown not to be safe anymore) clubs will always be a thing
 
If true, then I blame the dad.

It seems like he raised a hateful kid that grew to hate himself for being gay and resented others that could openly be gay.
 

Szu

Member
The report I read yesterday said that he was going to gay clubs and tried to start a romantic relationship with one of the guys he was in training with like ten years ago.

That's some pretty long term planning.

Kinda reminds me of this movie.
Jackal_film.jpg
 

emag

Member
If true, then I blame the dad.

It seems like he raised a hateful kid that grew to hate himself and others.

The dad's pretty cuckoo too. He thinks he's the president-in-exile of Afghanistan and has YouTube videos presenting his decrees to his officials and raving against the traitors in his government who work with Pakistan.
 

Condom

Member
Guys he was planning this all the time, he was allegedly already hitting on boys in kindergarten to find out where they hang out in the local park
 
So far nobody claims he actually partook in anything gay tho OP

All of this still aligns with the investigations suggesting he frequently tried to stake out places and talk to people who knew the club scene, and then would stake out in person. Nobody in the sources says they ever actually got a date out of him, but rather he would mention his wife and son and he would often sit in the corner alone

It's possible but I don't think we've hit the twist yet as we already knew he was messaging gay men from the club scene on Facebook including a club owner, presumably to get info about the clubs

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/report...222620444.html

A former classmate of Mateen's told The Palm Beach Post he believed Mateen was gay, and that Mateen once asked him out romantically.

Chris Callen, who performs at Pulse under the name Kristina McLaughlin, told The Canadian Press and CNN's Anderson Cooper that Mateen had been going to the bar one or twice a month "for at least three years."

An Orlando man told MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Monday that he had seen photos of Mateen on the gay dating apps Grindr, Adam4Adam, and Jack'd over the last several years. At least two of the man's friends had been contacted by Mateen on the apps.

"He was very creepy in his messages, and I blocked him immediately," the man said.

Kevin West, another regular at Pulse nightclub, told the Los Angeles Times that he chatted with Mateen on and off for a year on the gay dating app Jack’d, but had never met him in person. Incredibly, West said he met him for the first time as he was dropping a friend off at Pulse on Saturday night.

The classmate, who did not use his name, said he, Mateen, and other classmates would sometimes go to gay bars after classes at the Indian River Community College police academy.

He told the Post he thought Mateen was gay, but not publicly. He added that Mateen was "awkward" and other members of their friend group felt sorry for him.

"He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him," he told the Post. "He was always socially awkward."
 

akira28

Member
down...no one really thinks he's been trying to Dexter someone for the last 3 years and then finally decided to buy a gun.
 
He may have considered this over and over. It happens. I haven't seen that story though, got a link?
It was compiled into a much longer article covering all the information available so far but this may be the original source -

http://m.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/orlando-shooter-omar-mateen-was-gay-former-classma/nrfwW/

It seems way more likely that he had issues with his sexuality given what we've been hearing from people that knew him than the idea that he's been deep undercover in the gay community just to plan the perfect anti-lgbt massacre.
 

Kusagari

Member
This guy sounds like a complete loose cannon. There's no way he was going to this club/using dating apps for years as some kind of master plan to kill gays.
 

riotous

Banned
A classmate speculating it because Omar approached him like he did with a ton of people doesn't change that nobody has ever actually encountered the killer doing anything gay. We don't know what he actually intended to do had that classmate taken it further than a refusal.

Showing romantic interest in a man is "doing something gay."

You can be a gay virgin.
 
A classmate speculating it because Omar approached him like he did with a ton of people doesn't change that nobody has ever actually encountered the killer doing anything gay. We don't know what he actually intended to do had that classmate taken it further than a refusal.

This article/story doesn't claim to be definitive proof, just that it's credible enough to warrant investigating.
 

dave is ok

aztek is ok
So a huge homophobe with huge mental problems, clearly and not some "islamic extremist"?

See... This is why you don't jump to conclusions right away.
He called into 911 to pledge himself to ISIS.

It's possible he was also a closeted gay person and his family and religion were at extreme odds with who he was.

He could be a "islamic extremist" have "mental problems" and be a "self hating homosexual" all at the same time.
 

Betty

Banned
So far nobody claims he actually partook in anything gay tho OP

All of this still aligns with the investigations suggesting he frequently tried to stake out places and talk to people who knew the club scene, and then would stake out in person. Nobody in the sources says they ever actually got a date out of him, but rather he would mention his wife and son and he would often sit in the corner alone

It's possible but I don't think we've hit the twist yet as we already knew he was messaging gay men from the club scene on Facebook including a club owner, presumably to get info about the clubs

For three years?

There's also a trans model who claimed he did a cam2cam show with him.

There's also the distinct possibility he entered the club to kill people he'd been with and wanted to stop from speaking about his sexual exploits.
 
If true, then I blame the dad.

It seems like he raised a hateful kid that grew to hate himself for being gay and resented others that could openly be gay.

The dad's pretty cuckoo too. He thinks he's the president-in-exile of Afghanistan and has YouTube videos presenting his decrees to his officials and raving against the traitors in his government who work with Pakistan.

Yeah, that family just sounds insane. Crazy how shit is unraveling.
 

akira28

Member
Also pretty sure ISIS doesn't have a phone-in subscription hotline. And PRETTY fuckin sure that number wouldn't be listed as '911'.
 

aeolist

Banned
He called into 911 to pledge himself to ISIS.

It's possible he was also a closeted gay person and his family and religion were at extreme odds with who he was.

He could be a "islamic extremist" have "mental problems" and be a "self hating homosexual" all at the same time.

he pledged himself to ISIS, al qaeda, and hezbollah on the same call

to say that his religious politics were confused would be an understatement
 

Meier

Member
So far nobody claims he actually partook in anything gay tho OP

All of this still aligns with the investigations suggesting he frequently tried to stake out places and talk to people who knew the club scene, and then would stake out in person. Nobody in the sources says they ever actually got a date out of him, but rather he would mention his wife and son and he would often sit in the corner alone

One of the performers there saw him on average twice a month for a few years. This wasn't some sort of one off. I read that he'd been conversing with another guy on Jacked (hadn't heard of this before) from the club for over a year. A guy he went to school with also said that the shooter tried to start a relationship with him back in 2006 but he (the other guy) wasn't out yet so he turned him down. It definitely sounds like he was homosexual and confused.
 

Foffy

Banned
I don't think an extreme homophobe having hidden homoseuxal desires would be that unexpected.

Wouldn't religious views bring a kind of duality within that? A kind of impure inference over innate desire?

Assuming he acted in such a manner, of course. As others have said, he could have also used it to scope, once again highlighting the hatred that can spring from the religion issue.
 

dave is ok

aztek is ok
Also pretty sure ISIS doesn't have a phone-in subscription hotline. And PRETTY fuckin sure that number wouldn't be listed as '911'.
The San Bernardino couple probably never had contact with anyone from ISIS, yet they were radicalized.

We live in the internet age, you can get radicalized right from your bedroom.
 

aeolist

Banned
One of the performers there saw him on average twice a month for a few years. This wasn't some sort of one off. I read that he'd been conversing with another guy on Jacked (hadn't heard of this before) from the club for over a year. A guy he went to school with also said that the shooter tried to start a relationship with him back in 2006 but he (the other guy) wasn't out yet so he turned him down. It definitely sounds like he was homosexual and confused.

unless you have pictures of mateen getting fucked in the ass and blowing another dude while holding a handwritten sign saying "i am having sex with men because i am gay and like it" i don't think down will be satisfied
 

Gattsu25

Banned
Yeah my first reaction when I heard this was to wonder if he was scouting the place/people he wanted to attack. Then again him being a closeted homophobe would not be at all surprising and sad.

That was my reaction, too..until I heard from one account that he was a regular at the club for 3 years.

3 years is an awfully long time.
 
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