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US issues worldwide alert amid threat of violence against LGBT community
US said it is aware of increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQ people and events.
The US State Department on Friday issued a worldwide caution security alert, saying it is aware of increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQ+ people and events.
“Due to the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations, or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests, the Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution,” the department said in a statement.
The alert comes two weeks before the start of LGBTQ+ Pride Month in the United States.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement people in the LGBTQ+ community “continue to face insidious forms of stigma and discrimination.”
The warning, which did offer specific threat information, came after a similar warning from the FBI.
In a May 10 notice, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security pointed to recent anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in social media postings of the Islamic State group which called for "followers to conduct attacks on unidentified soft targets."
It also pointed to the arrest in Vienna last year of three alleged Islamic State sympathizers accused of plotting to attack a Pride march with knives and a vehicle.
During Pride month in 2016, the United States experienced one of the deadliest mass shootings in its history at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, in which a gunman killed 49 people.
The perpetrator, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a 911 emergency call during the attack. He was killed in a shootout when police stormed the building.
