Footage taken at a rally for President Donald Trump in Salem, Oregon shows a speaker equating LGBTQ rights with pedophilia and calling for Democrats to be shot in the street.
The speaker, identified on Twitter as Marcus Edwards, a spokesperson for the “All Lives Matter” group at the rally, carried a bullhorn branded with 45, a reference to Trump as the 45th president.
In the clip, which has been shared to both Twitter and Reddit, the speaker claims that the push to grant LGBTQ rights is actually a conspiracy to normalize pedophilia by political higher-ups, before going on to say that “Democratic leaders who allow this to happen need to be shot dead in the street.”
Edwards seems also to be referring to the QAnon conspiracy theory about high-profile pedophile sex rings, and the frequent claim that the Democratic party is involved with them. He also connects it with the old right-wing position that granting LGBTQ rights would eventually normalize pedophilia and bestiality.
It’s unclear whether Edwards is referring to all Democrats, those who support LGBTQ rights, or just those he believes to be actively involved in facilitating child sex trafficking to be shot in the streets, but this ambiguity has led to some Democrats feeling unsafe.
Some have seen Edwards’ speech as an incitement to violence against members of the Democratic party and have reported him for it.
