Amid Pride celebrations, some in Jewish LGBTQ+ community feel shunned, advocates warn

During Pride Month this year, advocates warn, the Jewish LGBTQ+ community doesn’t feel as welcome as usual. Meanwhile, vandals deface the homes of officials from a prominent Brooklyn museum in the latest of a string of antisemitic incidents in New York City. And a right-wing grifter imprisoned for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection says he’s building the next big militia, but experts are skeptical.

It’s the week in extremism.

Jewish LGBTQ+ Community feels shunned in shadow of war

With Pride Month under way across the country at the same time as the continuing Israel-Hamas war, some Jewish members of the LGBTQ+ community feel ostracized and even threatened and are not attending Pride events, according to A Wider Bridge, a Jewish LGBTQ+ organization that advocates for strong relationships between American and Israeli Jews.

• Ethan Felson, executive director of A Wider Bridge, told USA TODAY his organization has heard from hundreds of members of the Jewish LGBTQ+ community who say they are fearful of showing up “as their full authentic selves” at Pride events this season because of the threat of vitriol and physical harm that might be aimed towards them.
• Two high-profile Pride events, the D.C. Dyke March in Washington, D.C. and the New York City Dyke March, have both chosen as their themes “Dykes against Genocide,” a reference to the attacks in Gaza that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
• Protests against the war effort have, in many cases, spready to broader anti-Israel sentiment. And Felson said that makes some Jewish people feel threatened, too. “Gaslighting can burn,” Felson told USA TODAY. “One has to wonder if those are spaces that are safe – emotionally and physically – for many members of the Jewish community?” 
• Felson said his organization has also contacted organizers of Pride events across the country, asking them to plan for possible conflict. But he stressed that many such events are fully welcoming of the Jewish community: “We shouldn’t think that all Pride parades are like those events,” he said.  

Brooklyn Museum officials targeted by graffiti

The homes of the director of the Brooklyn Museum, who is Jewish, and three other museum officials were splashed with red paint by a group of vandals early Wednesday morning in what officials called an antisemitic attack, the latest in a city that has been racked by controversy over the Israel-Hamas war. 

• A hand-painted banner left outside museum director Anne Pasternak called out the museum by name and referred to Pasternak as a "white supremacist Zionist."
• "We are deeply troubled by these horrible acts targeting leaders connected to the museum," Brooklyn Museum Director of Public Relations Taylor Maatman told USA TODAY. 
• The vandalism comes among spiking rates of antisemitic incidents across the country. In April, USA TODAY published an investigation detailing such incidents from all 50 states.
• Police in New York City are investigating Wednesday’s incident. “This is not peaceful protest or free speech. This is a crime, and it's overt, unacceptable antisemitism,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams posted on X.

Jan. 6 rioter claims he’s built a new militia, but experts are skeptical

A man jailed on charges of assaulting police officers with a deadly weapon at the Jan. 6 insurrection now says he has launched a militia that will focus on combating civil unrest, safeguarding gun rights and conducting humanitarian aid.

• Edward Lang, whose previous attempt to start a militia ended with his imprisonment, told WIRED Magazine he launched his new militia from prison using the encrypted messaging app Telegram. 
• Experts were skeptical: “The best we can tell is that the numbers that the group is claiming are grossly misleading,” Jared Holt, senior researcher of US hate and extremist movements at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue told WIRED. “I wouldn't be surprised if would-be joiners of these groups come to learn that there is some kind of membership fee."

Lang is just one of several far-right figures vying to take on a leadership role in the so-called militia movement, following the imprisonment for 18 years of Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, who was found guilty of seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Statistic of the week: Three

That’s how many times 24-year-old Hayden Espinosa sold or attempted to sell illegal firearms to an undercover police officer via an extremist Telegram channel popular with neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, according to federal prosecutors.

Espinosa organized the sales using smuggled cell phones while he was still in prison for a separate offense, according to his indictment.