With the recent mass shooting that occurred in Orlando, it is not surprising that the media is already passing the blame. We pretend that blaming someone or something will help the lives lost in the shooting, but all it does is promote more hatred and distrust among people. The media does not seem to acknowledge that the shooting was a result of hatred rather than a belief system. It seems that whenever there is a tragedy, the first person we blame is the shooter, then we jump from the individual to the religion he represents. This case is no different. Omar Mateen is not the only one at fault, but the religion of Islam is the true culprit, according to the media. People do not seem to acknowledge that the religion and person are two separate entities and that blame does not help those lives lost at Orlando.

However, this does bring Islam's view of homosexuals to light. Islam, like most other major belief systems does not condone the act of homosexuality, but it also does not condone violence towards the LGBTQ+ community, nor discrimination towards them or the repression of their rights. In fact, Islam teaches people to love and respect everyone, even if they wrong you or do not agree with your way of life. It teaches us to be kind towards one another, rather than promote hatred and violence on the basis of disagreement. Even though it does not condone the act of homosexuality, the people are not at fault. The people deserve to be treated with respect and love, just like anyone else since hatred has no religion.

It seems like homosexuality is something that people have to accept at all costs, otherwise they do not stand for love. The crux of the matter is that someone's opinion of homosexuality should not be judged, but it also should not be the cause of hatred and violence. Omar Mateen committed this violent act not because he was a Muslim who hated gays, but because he was an American who was born and bred to cause violence in response to hatred. The problem does not lie with the religion, but with the person. The problem lies with our culture promoting hatred as a scapegoat for violence. The problem lies with hypocrisy; we want love but we also want to hate anyone who does not love what we love. We want to be free of racism and judgments, but that is all we promote. The problem is not the religion of Islam, the problem is us.