Alt-right homophobe plots to infiltrate gay bar and deliberately infect LGBT+ community with COVID-19
The alt-right homophobe intended to infect “10 to 20” LGBT+ people with COVID-19. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty)
An alt-right homophobe in New Zealand is being investigated for a plot to deliberately infect the LGBT+ community and people of colour with COVID-19.
According to the queer New Zealand publication Express, the man posted on an alt-right website claiming that he had contracted “woohoo flu”, and wrote that he had a “really sore throat” and was unable to stop coughing.
He then explained that he wanted to target the LGBT+ community and communities of colour by spreading the virus at a gay bar in Auckland and at a church.
The anonymous homophobe said he was aiming to infect 10 to 20 people at the bar, and asked for advice on how to “fit in without risking getting hit on”.
He also said he planned to visit multiple churches with congregations of colour, and in a separate post asked if it would be “too suspicious” to travel to the churches as the one closest to him was “predominantly white”.
Police have been notified, and told the publication that they were taking the threats “extremely seriously”.
A police spokesperson said authorities were “continuing to make enquiries into an anonymous post made on an online forum”.
They said: “The nature of this anonymous post is concerning, and Police take these sorts of matters extremely seriously.
“Police are limited in further comment at this stage as our enquiries are ongoing.”
New Zealand minister for health responded to the investigation: “The ministry supports the police as being the appropriate agency to look into this incident as they will be best placed to find out what’s happened and determine what further actions are required.”
The country has reduced its new daily COVID-19 cases to single figures under prime minister Jacinda Arden who, after October’s election, will now lead a parliament with the highest proportion of LGBT+ MPs in the world.
