By: Jenny Liang

As Pride month events continue in June, members of the LGBTQ community and security experts are expressing concerns about growing anti-LGBTQ sentiment in the U.S.“We are in the midst of a threat environment that is more complex and more disturbing than any other that I’ve experienced in my close to 40 years in law enforcement and homeland security,” said John Cohen, a former acting undersecretary for intelligence and counter-terrorism coordinator for the U.S.

According to the Department of Homeland Security and an ABC News contributor, the current threat against the LGBTQ community is worse than when the mass shooting occurred at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, seven years ago. The June 2016 massacre killed 49 people and injured 53 more.

The New York Police Department said Friday that there are no specific or credible threats to Sunday’s Pride march in the city, but an assessment by the NYPD said the event will take place “amid an elevated threat environment worldwide” related to the LGBTQ community. The department’s report, obtained by ABC News, mentions prior acts of mass violence targeting the gay community, including the shooting at Pulse.

Brigid McGinn, an organizer with Gays Against Guns, an activist group committed to ending gun violence, told ABC News at a vigil for Pulse shooting victims in New York City that she fears for the safety of the LGBTQ community amid the heightened rhetoric and the prevalence of guns in the U.S. “Our kids are not safe. Our trans siblings are not safe walking down the street…and it’s all due to interactions with gun violence,” McGinn said.

The threats coincide with the increased use of false anti-LGBTQ+ stereotypes by conservative figures that activists have been used to marginalize the community and rile up a political base. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a Think Tank specializing in research and policy advice on extremism and disinformation, said in a report this month that in the first five months of 2023, there have been more incidents of anti-drag protests, offline and online threats, and violence (an average of 19.4 per month) than in the last seven months of 2022 (an average of 15.1 per month).

The report cites a total of 203 incidents between June 2022 and May 2023 that targeted drag events online and offline across the U.S. in the time reviewed. Of that total number of incidents, 100 (49%) targeted drag queen story hours and 75 (37%) targeted drag shows, the report says.