that anti-LGBT hatred was the real cause:
"This was an attack on the LGBT community. And hatred towards people because of sexual orientation, regardless of where it comes from, is a betrayal of what's best in us."
Chad Griffin, then-head of the largest LGBT advocacy group, Human Rights Campaign, claimed:
"the maniac who did this was somehow conditioned to believe that LGBT people deserve to be massacred, that they are 'less than' in this society."
Then-candidate
Hillary Clinton, as part of her campaign, made a pilgrimage to Orlando and seized on the attack. In addition to its constituting anti-American terrorism, the Democratic nominee proclaimed the massacre