Gays Are Arming Themselves with Guns for Protection: WATCH #PinkPistols

2017 saw 52 murdered gay men from hate crimes. That’s one for every week. That doesn’t include the number of trans women or any other members of the community.

“I don’t want to get beaten to death, stabbed and burnt alive,” a slight woman with long blond hair and a checked shirt says. “I want a gun to feel equal.”

She is a member of one of the United States’ fastest-growing gun clubs, the jauntily named Pink Pistols.

Three years after the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, gay, lesbian and transgender Americans are nervous. According to the Human Rights Center (HRC), a US LGBTI advocacy group, 52 gay people were murdered in the US last year because of their sexuality, and 28 transgender people met the same fate.

“There is one murder per week of a gay person purely because they’re gay, and that’s really horrifying. The level of homophobia and transphobia in the USA is out of control and some people told me a gun is the difference between living and dying.”

The Pink Pistols have been nicknamed the “gay NRA,” a reference to the controversial National Rifle Association that is a staunch proponent of pro-gun laws.

“I would never have thought I’d see the LGBTI community siding with incredibly conservative, right-wing, pro-gun advocates that have been publicly homophobic and transphobic — that didn’t make any sense,” host Patrick Abboud explained.

Watch the full video below.