By John Pacenti
A popular Delray Beach Facebook group has been paused after supporters of Charlie Kirk began targeting longtime members, according to the moderator.
Delray Matters was suspended Sept. 11 for at least 30 days by moderator Ingrid Lee. It has more than 2,600 members.
The Coastal Star wrote in the August edition how social media groups like Delray Matters have become essential for residents to interact with their local governments.
Kirk was shot to death Sept. 10 while speaking on a Utah campus, and two of his followers that day signed up to Delray Matters and started to post about it.
They were particularly irate that Delray Beach was so focused on trying to save its LGBTQ Pride intersection and not sufficiently mourning Kirk, Lee said.
Longtime members of the group flagged the post because it violated the rule that all posts must center on Delray Beach issues.
Mayor Tom Carney said to connect what happened to Kirk to the issue of Gov. Ron DeSantis ordering the city’s LGBTQ Pride intersection to be painted over is “a very long shot. ...People are trying to connect dots that just are not there.”
Lee said she created Delray Matters to encourage residents to engage with their local government, but the site was being “hijacked by people who just want to be inflammatory or attack those who don’t fit their agendas.”
While the Christian evangelical community passionately supported Kirk, many Americans opposed his views on women, the LGBTQ community and gun control.
Lee said she tries not to block or censor people, but when they start affecting the community’s ability to communicate, she steps in as the moderator.
“They wanted to post, and they loosely tied it to the intersection, like, ‘Why don’t we talk about this instead?’” Lee said.
When Lee told them all posts needed to be about Delray Beach, it “was like kicking a hornet’s nest.”
She tried to explain to the Kirk supporters that they could talk about him in the comments. “They were like, ‘He’s Christian, I’m Christian, I should be able to talk about him,’” she said.
Then the new members started targeting individual people who had made comments about Kirk that they didn’t like. Lee tried to explain that the comments were opinion, “and it’s a free country.”
The Kirk supporters told Lee that she was “complicit” and “vile.”
The comment from one longtime member about Kirk, that “karma paid him a visit,” particularly got the ire of the activist’s supporters, Lee said.
“They screenshot both of them, went on to their private page and, like, put out a call for their minions to attack,” Lee said. “They were gonna put it on X and report it to (far-right political activist) Laura Loomer, and that they were gonna ruin this woman’s life.”
Kirk had said some gun deaths were “worth it” if it meant preserving the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms.
This all happened in 24 hours for Lee, who is a private citizen who works a day job.
Moderating the mayhem became too much when her members were being targeted.
She suspended the page, saying a “short break” was needed because moderating took way too much energy.
“It was just becoming invasive,” Lee said. “I was facing 60 comments to review, and on top of everything else going on in life, I just didn’t have the bandwidth to handle it.”
She reminded members in a post announcing the suspension, “We can have honest, even passionate conversations, but empathy matters too.”
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