The attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 50 dead (including the shooter) and over 50 injured was the largest single violent attack on LGBT people U.S. history, with more victims than the 1973 arson at another LGBT nightclub in New Orleans that killed 32. This massacre punctuated the daily instances of violence against LGBT people that occur regularly in the U.S. including murder.

The Pulse nightclub was not only a place where LGBT people in the area could go to relax, have some drinks, dance and socialize, but also like many similar places it was a venue for LGBT people to discuss the fight against homophobia and for equal rights. The killer’s motive was made crystal clear by his target, as was his timing. June is Gay Pride Month, during which there are many marches and other events throughout the country.

The shootings also happened on “Latino Night” at the Pulse club. There were many Latinos present, and they made up the majority of the casualties. Twenty-three of those killed were Puerto Ricans. It is not known if the shooter had hatred of Latinos as well as hatred of LGBT people.

On the same weekend as the Orlando shootings, James Howell was headed to a gay pride event in Los Angeles when his car was searched by police on a tip. They found three assault rifles and explosive chemicals. If he hadn’t been picked up, Orlando may not have been the only scene of a mass murder.

In response across the country (and around the world) LGBT people and supporters have held mass vigils in solidarity with the victims, express their pain and sorrow, and mobilize against the violence and threats of violence this horrific event has underscored.

While these crowds have taken to the streets to mourn collectively, rising slogans like “Don’t turn homophobia into Islamophobia,” a parade of elected officials, and much of the media are doing precisely that, scapegoating Muslims and Arabs and calling for more war in the Middle East and nearby countries. Candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump joined in.

They are playing on the facts that the shooter, Omar Mateen, is a Muslim, that his parents emigrated from Afghanistan over three decades ago, and that he has had a tenuous connection with ISIS, to portray the massacre as an act of “radical Islam.” This also diverts attention from his real motivation.

Trump doubled down on his demand that Muslims be banned from entering the U.S. and that all Muslims in the U.S. be subject to police profiling and surveillance. He warned that refugees from the U.S.-created wars in the Middle East were a “Trojan horse” to infiltrate terrorists like the Mateen, ignoring that he was born in the U.S. 29 years ago. Trump then said that if his ban was in force when Mateen’s parents emigrated, Mateen would never have been here.

Trump also ominously raised doubts about Obama’s ties to “terrorists,” saying “something is going on” with Obama (wink, wink). He also said that Obama should “step down” for not using the words “Radical Islam.” He made the same charge against Clinton. She responded by saying that was not true, and then began using an equivalent expression.

While Trump is fanning the flames of Islamophobia engulfing his base and beyond, Clinton has focused on the need to step up the U.S. war in the Middle East in light of the threat of “Islamic terrorism” — supposedly the main motive of Mateen, not homophobia. This is the political purpose of Trump’s rants, too.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has emerged as a Trump spokesman, said, “It is not our fault this [Islamic] hate exists in the world. But it is our responsibility to eradicate this hate in the world …. You’ve got to get over there and make them pay where they live.”

Christie is wrong. It is the fault of the U.S. perpetual wars in the whole region responsible for millions of deaths and refugees, and vast destruction. This has alienated many Arabs and Muslims. In the absence of any significant revolutionary proletarian or even bourgeois nationalist forces to resist the imperialist onslaught, reactionary pro-capitalist groups like Al Queda and ISIS step into the vacuum, falsely claiming to be anti-imperialist. (This deserves extensive treatment beyond the purpose of this article.)

While there has been growing acceptance of gays and lesbians among many Americans in recent years and some legal victories, in reaction there has been stepped up violence against LGBT people as well as homophobic legislation.

In 2005, the highest number of reported hate crimes in the U.S. (proportionate to their population) were against Jews, with LGBT people second, and Blacks and Muslims third and fourth. By 2014, LGBT people were first, Jewish people second, Muslims third and Blacks fourth. (It should be noted that police murders of Blacks are not counted. Also that many crimes against LGBT people are not reported for fear of being “outed” to family members or employers.) This past year has seen a spike in attacks on mosques.

A study of homicides of LGBT people in 12 states from 2012 to 2015 found that Black transgender women were the most likely victims, a fact that Black Lives Matter spokespeople have pointed out.

Homophobic material appears on social media. In one video that was reproduced on national TV after the Orlando shootings, a group of soldiers in their camouflage are shown, with on of them pointing a military assault rifle (the preferred weapon of many mass shooters including Mateen) at the camera, saying “Hey gay pride – take this!” They were reportedly given a “reprimand” by the Army.

In the past six months, the Christian Right in the Republican Party has introduced around 200 anti-LGBT bills in state legislatures. The one that has garnered the most attention has been in North Carolina, where a state law was adopted that prohibits cities from adopting any legislation that bans discrimination of LGBT people. It became known as the “bathroom bill” because it also stipulated that transgender people must use restrooms designated by the sex listed on their birth certificates.

Mateen, it turns out according to patrons of the Pulse nightclub, was seen several times in the club. He posted his picture on gay sites, including Adam4Adam, Grindr and Jack’d, looking for dates.

Stuart Milk is the nephew of Harvey Milk, an openly gay member of the San Francisco City Council assassinated in 1978 by a Christian who was also on the city council. Stuart Milk is the president of the Harvey Milk Foundation which organizes against homophobia. He said, “It is no surprise to LGBT activists around the world that this individual may have been dealing with his own sexuality. We have seen time and time again that those [gays] who come from cultures of nonacceptance of LGBT people, that oftentimes they react angrily, and that internal torment gets expressed through either verbal or physical abuse [against gays], and in extreme cases, something like what we saw happen [in Orlando].”

Mateen’s own family was very homophobic. After the shooting, his father said that “they” should not have been shot down here on earth, but that they would be punished in the afterlife.

Mateen may have sought to project a “macho” image in other ways. He had a violent life. He beat his first wife so badly that she had to be rescued from him by her family. He liked guns, and had aspirations to become a cop. He often wore tee-shirts with the NYPD logo, standing for New York Police Department. His current job was a security guard, part of a security and mercenary company called G4S. In addition to providing private security guards, G4S runs private prisons, immigrant detention centers and other such facilities in the U.S. and around the world.

If it is true that his internal conflict with his sexuality and homophobic culture was behind the massacre, then this was created by the homophobia of his immediate family reinforced by the homophobia evident in much of U.S. society. The motive keeps coming back to this.

What of Mateen’s claiming to support ISIS at the time of the shooting? His coworkers said that at times said he was a member of Hezbollah, and at others of Al Queda. Hezbollah, Al Queda and ISIS are at war with each other in Syria. They have different politics. Apparently, Mateen was not too well versed in what these organizations stand for. Even the FBI says he had no direct connection with any of them, and none were behind the attack.

We can only speculate why he made this claim. Some have said he might have sought religious sanction in his own mind for what he did. He might have been trying to provoke a police attack, where he would be killed in the shootout (as he was). He may have been trying to hide his real motive from himself.

Barry Sheppard