AOC Slams Lauren Boebert's 'Anti-LGBT Hate' After Colorado Springs Shooting

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, on Sunday called out her House colleague Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, for her anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in the wake of the Club Q shooting in Colorado.

A mass shooting broke out at the Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub just before midnight on Saturday, leaving five people dead and 18 injured. Police have since taken 22-year-old suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, into custody. While the motives for the attack have not yet been confirmed by law enforcement, the choice to target a gay club has left many concerned about homophobic vitriol leading to violence against the LGBTQ community.

Boebert, who represents Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, took to Twitter on Sunday morning to express her dismay over the shooting and share sympathy with the victims and their loved ones.

"The news out of Colorado Springs is absolutely awful," Boebert tweeted. "This morning the victims & their families are in my prayers. This lawless violence needs to end and end quickly."

In response to the congresswoman's tweet, Ocasio-Cortez, an outspoken progressive, derided her GOP colleague for spreading "anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric" and opposing meaningful gun control laws.

"[Lauren Boebert] you have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common sense gun safety laws," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet. "You don't get to 'thoughts and prayers' your way out of this. Look inward and change."

Newsweek reached out to Boebert's office for comment.

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez later shared another tweet highlighting how right-wing rhetoric has often preceded violent attacks against marginalized communities in the past.

"After Trump elevated anti-immigrant & anti-Latino rhetoric, we had the deadliest anti-Latino shooting in modern history," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "After anti-Asian hate w/COVID, Atlanta. Tree of life. Emanuel AME. Buffalo. And now after an anti-LGBT+ campaign, Colorado Springs. Connect the dots, [GOP]."

In July, Boebert derided the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill meant to codify gay marriage protections in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, as government overreach that "undermined masculinity." The bill was passed by the House at the time, and was recently passed in the Senate, 62-37, after several months of delay and consideration.

"I think the federal government should not be involved in marriage," Boebert said in an interview with conservative media figure, Charlie Kirk. "My marriage between my husband is really between me and God, not between me and the government. But this was absolutely unnecessary. They have attacked our institutions. They have weakened the nuclear family and undermined masculinity and even femininity."

Boebert has also spoken out frequently against transgender people, stating that she believes that people should be barred from making life decisions based on gender and sexual identities before age 21. She also opposed legislation that would implement trans-friendly screening techniques at airport security checkpoints.

While the motive for the Club Q attack has yet to be verified, NBC News reporter Ben Collins noted on Twitter that the last post the establishment made to its official Facebook page before the shooting was a promotion for an all-ages Drag Brunch event. Such family-friendly events, as well as Drag Queen Story Hours, have been heavily targeted by conservatives in the last year, with numerous events being subject to threats and intimidation.