Alleged Ex-Lover Of Orlando Shooter Speaks Out: He Loved To Cuddle; Did It For Revenge

“I’ve cried like you have no idea.”

That’s the alleged ex-lover of Omar Mateen, the Orlando shooter who murdered 49 people at the gay nightclub Pulse a week and a half ago.

Going by the fake name “Miguel” and wearing a disguise, the man sat down with Univision for an exclusive interview, during which he claimed without presenting even a shred of evidence that Mateen didn’t do what he did for terrorism — despite Mateen’s own words on Facebook and in calls to 911 on the night of the shooting.

Related: Federal Investigators Cast Doubt On Theory That Orlando Mass Murderer Was Closeted Gay Man

Instead, he claims he did it for revenge, and says Mateen felt taken advantage of by members of the gay community.

“He adored Latinos,” he said. “Gay Latinos, with brown skin, but he felt rejected. He felt used by them. There were moments in the Pulse nightclub that made him really mad. Guys used him. That really affected him.”

Related: Father Of Orlando Shooter Says Son’s Attack Linked To Seeing Two Men Kiss

Miguel claims what sent Mateen over the edge was sleeping with two Puerto Rican men, one of whom confessed he was HIV-positive after the encounter.

According to “Miguel”:

He was terrified that he was infected. I asked him, ‘Did you do a test?’ Yes. He went to the pharmacy and did the test … it came out negative, but it doesn’t come out right away. It takes four, five months. When I asked him what he was going to do now, his answer was, ‘I’m going to make them pay for what they did to me.’”

He strained credulity to the breaking point by insisting that Mateen was a “very sweet guy.” According to CBS, the two men met up about twenty times last year and first found one another on a hookup app. They soon became “friends with benefits.”

He claims Mateen never told him his name, but did reveal pertinent facts about his life: He was married, he had a son, and Mateen’s wife apparently knew he frequented gay bars.

In fact, he insists their whole twice married thing was a sham to conceal from Mateen’s father that his son was “100 percent” gay.

Apparently he never showed a violent side and loved to be cuddled.

“He was looking for love,” the source told Univsion.

Asked why he decided to come forward, he simply said, “It’s my responsibility as a citizen of the United states and a gay man.”

Find a link to the original interview here:

EXCLUSIVA: Presunto amante de Omar Mateen asegura que la #MasacreenOrlando fue una venganza. t.co/RPe5hEVBbV pic.twitter.com/Cjk77FquKH

— Univision Noticias (@UniNoticias) June 21, 2016

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Las Vegas Has Plush Accommodations, Luxury Spas and Fine Dining Experiences You’ll Love

The Edge, Mandarin Oriental

If you’re looking for opulence and incredible value, the lavish resorts, spas and restaurants in Las Vegas have everything you need for a memorable getaway.

Start with the right room. Exclusive and exquisite, Palms Place features spacious and sophisticated interiors within its suites, which boast nine-foot ceilings and hardwood and marble flooring.

Mandalay Bay

On the Strip, you’ll find an exceptional level of luxury in design, technology and detail in every room at Mandarin Oriental. Step into the marble foyer in any of the Bellagio Tower Suites and instantly unwind. Find your oasis and personalize your stay with modern conveniences including mood lighting, individual climate controls and reading lights, plus automatic drape and sheer controls. Or plan to stay at the Sky View Suite inside Mandalay Bay, where floor-to-ceiling windows reveal expansive beauty and will encircle you with stunning views of the Strip, Mandalay Bay Beach or mountain scenery.

Ready for a little pampering? Choose from 51 treatment studios, including three deluxe couples studios at Qua Baths & Spa inside Caesars Palace, where you can also experience snow falling from the ceiling in the one-of-a-kind Arctic Ice Room!

Ciel Spa, SLS Las Vegas

Featuring a luxurious penthouse spa suite and an authentic Turkish Hammam, Sahra Spa & Hammam at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas changes perspective, creating a path to balance, harmony and calm. Ciel Spa at SLS Las Vegas offers a relaxation lounge, couples massage suite, herbal steam rooms, oversized experience showers, and custom massage beds equipped with music therapy technology.

Sahra Spa & Hammam at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

Indulge yourself in the best in service and serenity at the Forbes Five Star-rated The Spa at Wynn Las Vegas, where the treatment rooms, luxurious products and professional pamperers create a sanctuary for guests. 

Now you’re ready for a delicious meal. Las Vegas has something for every taste bud. db Brasserie at The Venetian features such favorites as rainbow trout, dry-aged bone-in ribeye, tiger prawn linguini and more, all prepared with Chef Daniel Boulud’s signature French-American flair.

Dry-Aged Bone-In Ribeye, db Brasserie

In Downtown Las Vegas, enjoy a sumptuous steak dinner, fresh seafood, Strauss American Lamb, Veal of Milwaukee and more, in a classic, yet modern, atmosphere inside Andiamo’s Italian Steakhouse at the D Las Vegas.

Twist by Pierre Gagnaire

Try the lemon spaghetti, chicken cacciatore, rosemary focaccia or vegetable Bolognese rigatoni dished out at Giada – The Restaurant at The Cromwell. Also on the Strip, delight your senses with the familiarity of classic French cuisine and a modern spin at Twist by Pierre Gagnaire, Enjoy delicacies from this international acclaimed chef inside Mandarin Oriental. If you’re looking for an elegant Japanese dining experience, Shibuya at MGM Grand features freshly prepared ingredients, stellar sushi and the widest sake selection. 

Giada – The Restaurant

Upscale resorts, spas and delicious dishes are easy to find, so make your plans to enjoy affordable luxury in Las Vegas!

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Marco Rubio, Pewdiepie, Gay Rodeo, Rory McIlroy, Golden Girls, Casey Nocket: NEWS

FLORIDA. Marco Rubio to seek reelection in U.S. Senate, reversing promise: “In a major reversal highlighting Republican fear over losing the Senate majority and his own ambition, Marco Rubio on Wednesday will break a longstanding promise not to seek re-election, becoming an instant favorite but facing the challenge of running in a presidential year featuring Donald Trump.”

READ: My statement on @marcorubio‘s decision to enter #flsen: pic.twitter.com/wP9hyMtsA3

— Patrick Murphy (@PatrickMurphyFL) June 22, 2016

ORLANDO. Attack inspires some to come out as gay: “I just had to let them know,” said Mr. Casillas, 19, a soon-to-be college freshman who had been dancing at Pulse for more than year, unbeknown to his Puerto Rican father and Cuban mother. His mother had raised him in a church where parishioners learned that gay people went to hell. “This is getting to be a bigger part of me every day that passes on,” he said of his sexuality. “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to keep that from my family.”

NYT. Why Clinton won’t pick Elizabeth Warren as running mate.

OREGON. DMV won’t issue driver’s license to nonbinary person. “An Oregon judge decided this month that a person can legally identify as neither sex, but the Oregon DMV will need months — maybe years — before it can issue a driver’s license with a nonbinary sex designation, according to a spokesman.”

SINGAPORE. Ban on foreign countries sponsoring its LGBT rights Pink Dot day comes under fire: “The ministry’s June 7 statement sends a discriminatory message to Pink Dot’s corporate sponsors that their support for the festival is contrary to government policy,” Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Home Minister K. Shanmugam.

CASEY NOCKET. Graffiti artist banned from national parks: “A graffiti artist has been banned from all national parks and other federally administered land – that’s more than 20% of the US – for vandalism after Redditusers tracked her down on social media. Casey Nocket was also sentenced to 200 hours of community service and a fine for drawing faces in acrylic paint in at least six national parks: Death Valley, Colorado National Monument, Canyonlands, Zion and Crater Lake.”

EVICTIONS. Pewdiepie evicted for loud gay sex: “With over 12 and a half BILLION views and 46 million subscribers, it’s safe to say that PewDiePie is an Internet phenomenon, and if you’ve ever watched is videos (which is pretty much everyone on the planet, TWICE) you’ll know that they can get pretty loud… So it’s not surprising that, even with an extremely sound-proofed recording room, his landlord delivered him a noise complaint. What IS worrying though, is that it was delivered with a stream of homophobic abuse…”

To be clear: I made a video, landlord thought I was having gay sex. Comes down to call us faggots. Next day evicted w/o previous notice.

— Felix Kjellberg (@pewdiepie) June 17, 2016

Was planning to fight against the situation, but honestly happy to just move far away from that guy. Got more important shit to deal with.

— Felix Kjellberg (@pewdiepie) June 17, 2016

MINNESOTA. Gay rodeo back in the saddle: “In 2015, the new recruits helped end the rodeo hiatus with a two-day event at Hugo’s Dead Broke Arena (an ironic choice given North Star’s past money problems). The turnout was modest but it was good enough to break even. North Star considers it a victory given the circumstances. Membership has risen and is now back up to 80 active members. And they’re bringing back the rodeo again this year. From July 29-31, bull riders, chute doggers, and barrel racers from around the country will again storm the dusty Hugo arena. In year two of North Star’s comeback, Griffin expects 1,000 to 1,500 people per day, with buses hauling in out-of-towners and city slickers from Minneapolis (advance tickets are $10).”

NYC. Man plans Golden Girls-themed cafe in honor of Rue McClanahan. “Michael J. LaRue plans to open Rue La Rue Café on 4396 Broadway, at the Sofia Storage Building, in early September in honor of the late Rue McClanahan — his close friend and actress who played Blanche Devereaux in the beloved series. ”

ZIKA. Rory McIlroy to skip Rio over Zika fears: “After speaking with those closest to me, I’ve come to realize that my health, and my family’s health, comes before anything else,” McIlroy said in a statement. “Even though the risk of infection from the Zika virus is considered low, it is a risk nonetheless and a risk I am unwilling to take.”

WHITE PRIVILEGE. Debated by three white conservatives.

HUMP DAY HOTTIE. Kevin Carnell

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ACT UP Targets Donald Trump with Massive ‘Die-In’ at Trump Tower: VIDEOS

The activist group ACT UP paid a visit to Donald Trump at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City yesterday, staging a gun control rally that featured a die-in on the sidewalk. ACT UP NY, along with leaders from Muslim, Latinx and LGBTQ organizations, rallied against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s use of the recent massacre at a gay bar in Orlando to polarize Americans.

“The protest was organized by activist group ACT UP NY (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) to combat Trump’s use of the recent massacre at an Orlando gay bar to push Islamaphobia while meeting with right-wing, anti-LGBT religious groups to appeal to conservative voters,” according to organizers.

Activists yelled chants like “Donald Trump, Toxic Dump” and “Stop the Hate, Stop the Killing.”  Between the chants, multiple community members spoke about the effects of violence and hate speech on the LGBT community.

“It’s awful that Donald Trump is using the Orlando massacre to push his agenda of xenophobia and bigotry when in this case, the hatred came from an American who grew up amid the hateful religious rhetoric spread by Evangelical leaders and right-wing politicians,” said ACT UP NY member Brandon Cuicchi.

More photos here from Peter Fahrni. And here’s a whole gallery from Pacific Press Agency.

LGBTQ / gun control rally outside Trump Tower rn in solidarity with #Orlando, apparently @realDonaldTrump on his way pic.twitter.com/HuCH90gC3j

— Mike Murphy (@mcwm) June 21, 2016

A few fascists came to counter-protest the #StopKillingUs protest in front of Trump Tower! pic.twitter.com/3B6uJYa4ub

— Ash J (@AshAgony) June 21, 2016

Anti-Trump protesters lay down on the sidewalk outside Trump Tower (this protest has been going on for over an hour) pic.twitter.com/fEP8WZtEkz

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) June 21, 2016

Act UP Now doing a “die in” right outside Trump Tower pic.twitter.com/VqfAak7RKw

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 21, 2016

Biggest anti Trump protest outside Trump Tower I’ve seen right now being staged by Act UP pic.twitter.com/sVsraKEyFP

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 21, 2016

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Why The Pulse Nightclub Massacre Is The LGBTQ 9/11

The Orlando shooting is the gay community’s 9/11, a moment of such hatred and violence that our frame of reference will forever be split into what came before and what came after. The events of the past weekend have changed our lives as LGBTQ people and as Americans forever. But for me, it immediately made me think about Pulse nightclub in Orlando, and how gay nightclubs changed my life for the better.

As a 19-year-old closeted soldier coming of age in Colorado, I can remember my first real gay club vividly. It was called Hide n’ Seek. It was nothing more than a simple two-floor building in a nondescript lot in west Colorado Springs, a conservative bastion, but to me it was my welcoming world. It was the first place I interacted with other gay men, the first time I felt like a true part of the community, and, in the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell era, the only place where I could truly be myself.

The now defunct Hide n’ Seek, Pulse, and the hundreds of other gay clubs just like them all across the country and globe are our spaces where we go to be free from the prying and judgmental eyes that even in 2016 police a lot of public affection we show to each other–or what to show each other. The eyes that express silent disapproval when we dare kiss in public, hold hands, or do any of the things that opposite sex couples take for granted.

These places have been our refuges since a time where gays and lesbians could be arrested for showing affection in public or beaten and worse just for being ourselves. Over the years, we have opened them more and more, to straight women seeking to have a good time without feeling the weight of the hetero male gaze and to men and women in various stages of their coming out process looking to test the waters. The attack on us in a space that is for and by us is a violation of the values of inclusiveness that are so dear to us as LGBT people– and, yes, as Americans.

That the gay community was targeted in what ended up being the worst mass shooting in American history has shocked us out of whatever post marriage equality complacency. LGBTQ people are still hated. We are still targeted. Gay men are still hated. Gay men are still targeted. The events of the past weekend should make it quite clear that gays haven’t yet made it to the Promised Land of post-marriage-equality freedom.

How many times have we searched for the escape and pure freedom of the dance floor at a gay club, feeling completely safe and secure in the knowledge that this space is for us to be completely free a to kiss other men, to dance like nobody’s watching?

There is a long history of violence in LGBT spaces. In 1973 32 people were killed in an act of arson at The Upstairs Lounge, a gay watering hole in New Orleans. In 2013, a man named Musab Mohammed Masmari poured gasoline on the carpeted entrance to a gay nightclub and set it ablaze, intending to hurt or kill the patrons dancing inside. (Thankfully, he didn’t hurt anyone, and was arrested while attempting to flee the country.)

But this is different. This attack was part of a growing worldwide antigay ideology, one that starts with ISIS in the Middle East, but is hardly limited to this band of genocidal terrorists. Omar Mateen’s attack on the LGBT community was not just deadlier. 49 people, mostly young gay men, have been executed for the unforgivable crime of being openly gay in America. It was also scarier because everyone knows how vulnerable our bars, clubs and community centers are to the violence of haters.

I am an Iraq war veteran. I served as an infantryman in Kirkuk for a little under a year after the invasion of Iraq. I am disturbingly aware of what it is like to look into the eyes of such men. Over there, the enemy was quite clear. The people who pledge allegiance to ISIS and believe in radical Islam want us to live in fear, and they despise gay people.

The terrorists who hate us and pledge allegiance to ISIS want us to think twice before we celebrate our freedoms as Americans. They want us to now think twice about attending that LGBT pride event, or going to that nightclub, or kissing our partners on the streets. But we know that we cannot give into that fear. We know that we also can’t give into the divisiveness and hate that is on the tips of our tongues right now because we are so shaken and afraid.

We know that we can say the words “radical Islam” without devolving into Islamophobia. We know that we must encourage our gay Muslim brothers and sisters to come out and speak up within their own communities, because we know that their voices can go so much further than ours alone. We know that we must always remember the lives that were lost in Orlando, that we must say their names, and that they must never be forgotten.

And we know that post-Orlando like in post-9/11, we will eventually come back to some semblance of normal despite the new threat hanging over our heads. We will continue to dance. We will continue to love. We will not cower in the closet or in the safety of anonymity on apps and web sites because of the actions of one sick individual, not matter how many copycats might be lurking. We will continue to celebrate pride as LGBT people because living our lives openly and honestly is the ultimate retaliation for the Orlando mass murderer and to those who want us to be afraid.

Rob Smith is a multimedia journalist and author of  Closets, Combat and Coming Out: Coming of Age as a Gay Man in the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Army.  Follow him on Facebook  and Twitter @robsmithonline.

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Tennessee School Boots Teacher After He Started Gay Straight Alliance

How is this still a thing that happens? A school in Tennessee has refused to renew a contract with a beloved teacher, and gee whiz what a coincidence, it happened right after he helped some kids start a GSA.

Harassment at the Union County High School in Tennessee seems to be at epidemic proportions, with anonymous homophobic posters going up in the hallways. Sixty years ago, it would have been about black students; forty years ago, it might’ve been about Jews; now here we are in 2016 and apparently nobody’s learned anything from history.

After Chris Richeson helped some students start a GSA, he too became a target for harassment — from his coworkers. He says that school officials repeatedly pressured him to change the club, and stood in the way of club activities, even stuff as basic as making announcements.

Finally, the school told him they wouldn’t renew his contract, but not why. It isn’t too hard to guess.

Richeson says that there is literally zero record of any disciplinary activity against him, and that he had the highest performance rating it was possible for a teacher to have. So why else would they let him go?

It’s like in the 1970s, when California homophobes tried to put a bill on the ballot that would legalize the firing of any teacher even suspected of homosexuality. Back then, Harvey Milk helped defeat the measure. It’s a shame that Tennessee of 2016 is so far behind California of 1978.

He says that he’ll be leaving Tennessee, but his students aren’t so lucky. They’re stuck in a dangerous school that would rather sweep their very existence under the rug than protect them. Will there be another instructor at the school brave enough to stand up to this harassment and protect the kids left behind? Hopefully.

But it’s understandable that teachers would be afraid to take that step now. Instead, they may have to start something more secretive and underground — a hidden GSA, like how LGBTs had to creep around in the shadows in the 1950s. It’s ridiculous that in this day and age, we’re forcing kids to live like it’s the 1950s.

There’s a petition to reinstate Chris at the school. As of now it has 616 signatures. If we were him, we’d be reluctant to head back — maybe instead the petition should be for defending the ongoing existence of the school’s GSA.

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