Just hours after a horrifying attack at Berlin Pride left one person dead and nearly 30 others injured, a familiar wave of political finger-pointing has crashed across social media. But for many in the LGBTQ+ community, the loudest voices offering “support” are the same ones they’ve learned not to trust.
The suspect, identified as Abdul Ballout, was shot and killed by German police after allegedly charging at officers with a knife. Authorities say he had previously tried to join the Islamic State. While some are relieved the threat is over, others worry about celebrating an extrajudicial death—preferring to see justice carried out in a courtroom, not on the street.
But this story isn’t just about Berlin. The writer of a personal essay, who had just returned from a queer festival in the city, watched in real time as British hard-right pundits and politicians seized on the tragedy. Nigel Farage posted that “the strange left wing alliance between Islamists and the LGBT community cannot last.”
Another commentator accused the “tolerant left” of naivety, essentially blaming the victims for the attack.
The essay’s author isn’t buying it. “I’m not exactly grateful to have the ‘support’ of the Reform leader, who once tweeted his support for a ban on ‘poisonous trans ideology in our schools,’” they wrote.
Queer people, they argue, are used to being targeted from all sides—not just by Islamic extremists, but also by Christian nationalists, tech billionaires, and, in their personal experience, mostly white people. The writer recounts receiving homophobic 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮 on UK streets from white individuals, and even death threats for hosting family-friendly drag shows. Meanwhile, they lived in London’s Whitechapel neighborhood for four years—often cited by the far right as a so-called no-go zone for non-Muslims—without a single incident.
But a trip to Southend? Two physical threats before reaching the beach.
Their point is clear: if the Berlin attacker had been white, the same voices demanding a reckoning with Islam would be calling him a troubled lone wolf. There would be no sweeping calls to ban white Christian ideologies or to question alliances between white people and the LGBTQ+ community.
Reform-backed councils in the UK, they note, have refused to fly Pride flags and defunded celebrations. Yet those same politicians now expect the LGBTQ+ community to take their outrage seriously.
“Islamophobia does not protect queer people,” the writer states bluntly. “My community knows better than to demonize an entire group of people based on the actions of a few.”
They end with a plea that feels both exhausted and defiant: this tragedy should have been a tribute to the victims, not a weapon for division. Not in their name.
So as the headlines shift from Berlin to the UK, one question lingers: who really gets to mourn—and who’s just using the tears?
