Ethan Schmidt told LGBTQ+ folk and their supporters that they were “not safe”. (Twitter/ PatriotTakes)
Right-wing extremist Ethan Schmidt, who founded the group The Anti-Maskers Club, has announced that he will be “hunting” LGBTQ+ people and their supporters during Pride month, adding: “They’re not safe.”
Schmidt is a racist, anti-vax, homophobic, transphobic, Trump-supporting social media user in Arizona, who has become infamous for filming himself confronting people wearing masks, and once said he “loves harassing cancer patients” who are wearing masks because they are “weak and vulnerable”.
In December 2021, he was fined for violently ripping a mask off a Native American worker at a gas station on an Indian reservation, and in January this year he was banned from the Arizona Capitol after he harassed lawmakers and staff over wearing masks, gave Nazi salutes, and told Black representative Reginald Bolding that he was wearing a “slave muzzle”.
As COVID restrictions have lifted, he has turned his attention to harassing LGBTQ+ people and inclusive businesses, and has now vowed to “hunt” queer people and their supporters across Phoenix, Arizona, during Pride month.
In a video shared this week by the Twitter account Patriot Takes, which monitors right-wing extremism, Schmidt said that he and a friend named Kyle would be visiting every Target store in the US to “expose every single Satanic Pride shrine”.
But Ethan Schmidt went even further, and added: “I also like to hunt LGBT supporters on my free time. That’s one of my favourite pastimes, you know. Also we’re going to be going on hunting expeditions pretty soon, you know, hunting the LGBT supporters across Arizona and Phoenix.
“So, you know, keep an eye out for that because you’re not safe. If you support the LGBT agenda, you’re not safe. You’re not safe.”
Ethan Schmidt, a right wing provocateur who has made videos with Kari Lake, Wendy Rogers, and Paul Gosar, warned Target he will “hunt LGBT supporters” in their stores and across Phoenix in June, stating they “are not safe” and they “can’t hide.” pic.twitter.com/O3ReHVN3qY
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) May 21, 2022
Right wing provocateur Ethan Schmidt, who has made videos with Kari Lake, Paul Gosar, and Wendy Rogers, filmed himself calling workers at JOANN fabric store “pedophiles” for selling pride merchandise.
Why won’t these Arizona Republicans denounce this? pic.twitter.com/rKJof9pzh6
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) May 26, 2022
Ethan Schmidt later released another video, this time targeting a different business – fabric store Joann Fabrics.
He filmed himself inside the store looking at Pride merchandise, before confronting a staff member, and shouting at workers that they were “paedophiles”.
Patriot Takes asked: “Why won’t Arizona Republicans denounce this?”
Schmidt mostly uses Telegram to communicate with his followers and says he has been repeatedly banned by other platforms including Twitter.
However, at the time of writing, he still appears to hold a Twitter account. PinkNews has approached Twitter for comment.