Pulse shooting survivor says there are 'homophobic psychopaths running the US government'

A survivor of the Pulse night club terror attack has come out and branded government officials “homophobic psychopaths”.

Brandon Wolf appeared on Joy Reid’s MSNBC show and criticised vice president Mike Pence, as well as other members of government:

He said:

We have homophobic psychopaths running the United States government today. That’s the reality.

We have a secretary of state, as was mentioned, that believes that gay people are sinners based on who they are.

If Mike Pence, God bless him, ended up in the White House sitting behind that Oval Office, he would have us all in concentration camps hoping to pray away the gay.

The reference to concentration camps – a brutal appendage of Hitler’s Jewish genocide during the Second World War – prompted many people to take offence, and he clarified that he misspoke.

Wolf appeared on the show to argue that instead of focusing on Joy Reid (who recently came under fire for anti-LGBT+ blog posts allegedly written by her a decade ago), the public ought to give their attention to the administration’s anti-gay stance.

After his television appearance, he called on the vice president to publicly condemn conversion therapy.

He wrote:

I am calling on vice president Pence to publicly denounce the practice of conversion therapy and call for a ban in all 50 states.

The vice president has a documented history of supporting anti-LGBT+ legislation.

He has been accused of supporting “conversion therapy”, the practise of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation using psychological therapy or other medical means. A spokesperson told the New York Times that he did not, in fact, support the practise.

As Indiana governor, he also signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that permitted businesses to refuse service to gay and lesbian customers by citing religious freedom.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s position on same-sex marriage has been a point of contention.

He reportedly suggested that homosexuality is a “perversion”, and told senator Cory Booker that he “holds the same view” about same-sex marriage that he held when he was senator.

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