The LGBT community in Orlando, Florida, continues to mourn the mass shooting at a gay nightclub over the past weekend as new evidence suggests the shooter might have been struggling with his own sexual identity.

Regardless of whether Omar Mateen was gay or not doesn’t change the fact that homophobia was at the root of this tragedy, said Lillian Faderman, an internationally known scholar of lesbian history and literature.

"If he was gay, it’s just one more indication that religious extremism has poisoned, in this case, a gay person so much that he could be murderous. He could willingly kill 49 people and injure over 50 others because he hated himself. And he hated himself so much because of the line about gay people that he’s learned from religious extremism," she said.

Homophobia is rife among religious extremist groups, Faderman said. It’s not only prevalent within radical Islam, but also radical Christianity.

"I don’t think the Christian right, for the most part, would go as far as Omar Mateen did, but their rhetoric has been hateful and very dangerous to the LGBT community," she said.

The events of the weekend shattered the LGBT community, but the community can come together to push for even more progress, such as civil rights protections not currently under federal law, Faderman said.

Attacks on LGBT gathering places aren't uncommon in U.S. history, but American support for the community is much stronger now, according to Faderman.

Prior to this, the worst attack on the LGBT community came in 1973 when an arson attack at a New Orleans gay bar killed 32 people. There was no public mention or support for LGBT people, even some families refused to claim the bodies of those killed, Faderman said.

"This is so different and I think the LGBT community has reason to feel so supported by the wider community, by so much of America now. At least that’s one heartening thing to come out of this terrible tragedy," she said.