Today, a clip of a government Zoom roundtable went viral, with employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Health and Human Services discussing how LGBTQ people and other marginalized communities can be further disadvantaged when they become victims of a natural disaster.
Now, the workers shown in the video are receiving immense online backlash from many who see the clip as indicative of FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene, which sparked right-wing outrage.
The head of FEMA is also specifically getting hate for an old tweet praising one of the employees in the video.
The clip was initially posted by far-right influencer @EndWokeness yesterday, taken from a March 2023 meeting on “Helping the LGBTQI+ Community Before Disaster.”
In it, FEMA Emergency Management Specialist Tyler Atkins said LGBTQ people and others who have been disadvantaged “already are struggling” and natural disasters compound their struggles.
Then, Maggie Jarry, a Senior Emergency Management Specialist with the Department of Health and Human Services, said that emergency management in the U.S. is shifting from prioritizing “the greatest good for the greatest amount of people” to “disaster equity.”
“We have to look at policies and understand to what extent they have disadvantaged communities that have less assets, communities that have pre-existing vulnerabilities in accessing disaster-related recovery supports,” Jarry said.
The clip comes after FEMA, President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris received criticism for not doing enough for the victims of Helene, which killed almost 230 people.
The agency has been beset by claims it’s willfully not helping victims, pushed by far-right influencers with little evidence. Of particular ire had been FEMA funds going to the migrant crisis, with claims Americans in disaster areas are being left behind.
Atkins and Jarry’s old comments only intensified those criticisms. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell also received backlash for a tweet she posted about Atkins last year.
In June 2023, Criswell shared a photo of Atkins alongside a short biography of the FEMA employee.
“Tyler brings our equity mission to life,” Criswell tweeted. “He provides valuable opportunities for our workforce to learn how to best support and prepare communities—especially the LGBTQ+ community—for disaster.”
Criswell got pushback over Atkins and the agency putting resources toward the LGBTQ community when she initially posted the tweet. But now she’s now receiving a fresh wave of hate connected to the viral clip of Atkins.
“Deanne, you need to be on @realDonaldTrump Day 1 pink slip day list!” one X user responded to Criswell’s tweet. “You are a failure!”
“FIRE HIM NOW AND YOU RESIGN! What does someones sexuality have to do with them drowning?” another X user wrote. “Trump’s coming for you all.”
“The poster boy of a liberal beta fem,” another X user said of Criswell. “Remote ‘working’ has totally exposed the incompetence of these morons.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to FEMA for a statement.
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