Why are prominent liberals closeting Omar Mateen's jihadist motives?

Faced with the fact that most Muslim-majority countries criminalize homosexuality (and that nine of the ten that do so with death are Muslim), liberals perfunctorily cite the case of Uganda, a Christian nation whose government also treats gays brutally. That this small African country is mentioned so often as an example of non-Muslim governmental homophobia attests to its outlier status. Nor is Christianity the state religion of Uganda, as Islam is for so many of the majority-Muslim countries that punish homosexuality. As for the world’s only Jewish State, well, it has a thriving gay culture and its Prime Minister has released a video statement of solidarity with the global LGBT community.

Because they are incapable of distinguishing murderous Islamist homophobia from high school bullying, many gay liberals have lashed out at Republican politicians who’ve offered condolences to the Orlando victims, accusing them of having forfeited any right to express solidarity by dint of their past opposition to same-sex marriage. Bizarrely, some have gone so far as to blame American Christian conservatives, rather than Islamist fanatics, for Mateen’s actions. The New York Times has led the pack campaigning to replace Islam with Christianity as the most threatening font of religious homophobia. A remarkable editorial about the massacre that didn’t once mention the words “Islam” or “Muslim” saw fit to condemn “Republican politicians who see prejudice as something to exploit, not extinguish.” Elsewhere, in its “Room for Debate” section, the Times asked four experts to answer the question, “Have Christians Created a Harmful Atmosphere for Gays,” an utter non-sequitur after a Muslim walked into a gay bar and murdered 49 people. The disordering of priorities here is breathtaking. If only LGBT folks could muster the same amount of vitriol towards al-Baghdadi and his deranged followers that they did for Kim Davis, the Kentucky court clerk who earned gay left ire for refusing to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.