In July 2026, someone drove a rented vehicle into the Berlin LGBTQ+ Pride parade. According to current causality counts, this man - Germany's interior minister identified Abdul Ballout as a primary suspect - killed one woman and injured 29 people. Ballout (who was convicted in 2025 of trying to join ISIS) was killed by the police during a confrontation in the Berlin suburbs.
In the aftermath, the LGBTQ+ community is grappling with profound loss - and another reminder of why LGBTQ+ safe spaces matter. At the same time, queer and trans people of the Palestinian, Lesbanese, and Iranian diaspora along with their allies are urging their community members and outsiders not to use this tragedy as justification for anti-Muslim hate and continued military violence in Lebanon, Iran and Palestine.