NRA social media manager William McLaughlin is a pro-gun, gay American expressing bewilderment over his observation the gay community does not see the value of gun rights.

McLaughlin attended a PRIDE parade in Washington DC, then used a Washington Post opinion piece to explain what he encountered.

He began by noting: “The District, where I live, is a liberal city. Gay people are embraced; guns are not. You don’t have to see how the District votes to know that. You can tell by the signs in people’s yards and the bumper stickers on their cars. The gay community is largely anti-gun, too.”

McLaughlin then focused on his PRIDE parade experience:

At the parade, these worlds collided. I found myself at an event where I should have felt at home but, instead, I felt hated. It wasn’t all in my head. People chanted an obscenity about the NRA as they marched down P Street NW. I don’t understand why the LGBTQ community is so hostile toward the Second Amendment. I’d like to ask my fellow gays to take a moment and consider this issue through a different lens. I long for the day when the gay community will galvanize its significant political might and work toward making practical changes that would let gays better protect themselves when laws don’t.

He quoted hate crime statistics–particularly crimes toward members of the gay community–and asked:

If we in the gay community know we are frequent targets, why do we overwhelmingly oppose laws that protect our right to defend ourselves? Why do I find myself, at party after party, defending my decision to work for the NRA? Why does my wanting to own a firearm make some gay people I meet accuse me of being self-hating? Why is a community that prides itself on inclusion and tolerance so intolerant toward the Second Amendment, the NRA and those who believe in the right to self-defense?

In the wake of the June 12, 2016, Orlando Pulse shooting the Pink Pistols confronted issues similar to those McLaughlin is raising, and they, too, emphasized that the gay community should be pro-Second Amendment to the core.

Following the Pulse shooting, Pink Pistols speaker Gwendolyn Patton urged gay Americans to avoid the knee-jerk reaction of blaming the guns for attack. Patton said: “GUNS did not do this. A human being did this, a dead human being. Our job now is not to demonize the man’s tools, but to condemn his acts and work to prevent such acts in the future.”

On June 30, 2106, Breitbart News reported Patton stressing that the gay community needs to arm itself for self-defense.

The Washington Blade, quoted Patton saying, “We teach queers to shoot and we teach the world we did it.”

Patton added: “The idea is that if the general public becomes aware that there is a portion of the [LGBT] community that may be armed with a lawfully owned firearm and have the training and the skills necessary to use it effectively, this is a deterrent to make those that would attack us think twice.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.