So here we have another self-loathing closeted gay man who, because he can’t deal with his own homosexual feelings, reacts violently to the realization. Like virtually the entire Republican Party, Omar Mateen was so ashamed of his sexual feelings and so filled with self-loathing that he felt the need to symbolically kill those urges by helping to rid society of gays – in his own mind – and in the process, killing himself.

This case brings home the point that the people who are most vociferously opposed to the “gay lifestyle” (Republicans, fundamentalist Christians, Muslims) are those who are most drawn to it. They just can’t admit it to themselves or others, so they lash out against homosexuals instead of simply giving in to their carnal urges.

Cognitive dissonance is a powerful phenomenon. Ask any priest…