A figure of hate appeared this week at a local prayer vigil for the 49 victims killed in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

His name is Steven Billingsley, a 21-year-old resident of San Antonio who initially disguised himself at the vigil in a skull mask while carrying a bull horn and a sign that read “God Hates Fags” with swastika symbols on the back.

Officers advised Billingsley of ordinances he was required to follow and told him he should remain on the perimeter of Crockett Park. He followed all directions given to him, according to a preliminary police report.

But his display of hate in that setting was too much for some to bear.

After several attendees engaged him, one grabbed his sign and ripped it. Police separated both men, eventually arresting the one who had ripped the sign: 30-year-old Arturo Trejo.

Surrounded by officers, his face now bare, Billingsley made a “Sieg Heil” Nazi salute for a photographer.

Police then gave him “a courtesy ride back to his vehicle and agreed that leaving was in his best interest for his safety,” according to the report. Police confiscated his sign “as evidence for the criminal case against” Trejo, who was charged with criminal mischief and failure to identify with warrants.

The report identified the Nazi-saluting protester as Billingsley.

Reached late Friday on his Facebook page, Billingsley acknowledged that he was the protester at the vigil. He agreed to respond to my questions only with a single, chilling message:

“I am a member of the Atomwaffen Division, a new and rising US-based National-Socialist movement. Our members have been responsible for spreading recruitment drive materials on the campuses of the following universities: University of Central Florida, Old Dominion University and Boston University.

“This was my first action taken on behalf of the Division and our first public action — you can expect to hear more of us in the future.

“I have attended the vigil at Crockett Park with a sign that reads ‘God Hates Fags,’ which is a factual statement that I chose to use in order to spread awareness of that fact and make these degenerates aware that they are responsible for what they get, be it at the hands of a Muslim or AIDS it does not matter.

“The people attending the vigil are in denial over the nature of what was going on in that cesspool that they call the Pulse club, you can look up materials that depict the most foul behavior that is best left unsaid, not the least of which was hooking up for the explicit purpose of contracting HIV — this is called bug chasing.

“We must preserve the purity of our race, oppose the intrusion of foreign religions and do away with homosexuality for good.

“Heil Hitler!”

Billingsley’s Facebook page also contained expressions of hate scattered among depictions of daily life and even Christian prayers. (In addition to fascism, he is also apparently a fan of the Star Wars films.)

One photo caption read: “Sex offenders are now required to have transparent rainbows on their Facebook profile pictures.”

He posted a YouTube video entitled, “With Open Gates: The collective suicide of European nations.”

Regarding the presidential race, Billingsley posted, “The collective butthurt of anti-Trumpers is absolutely hilarious.”

Another photograph showed a Confederate flag hanging in a room, with the caption: “So at the top of my list of ‘Thing’s That Ain’t Comin’ Down” is my beautiful Blood Stained Banner or Confederate Third National Flag.”

Billingsley’s hate speech is protected by the First Amendment.

But for those of us who are appalled by it, we must remain watchful and aware.

It reveals a virulent strain of American thought that can erupt into sudden violence, the sort that took the lives of nine black parishioners last year in a church in Charleston, S.C., where another 21-year-old racist, Dylann Roof, turned hate speech into a hate crime.