Caitlyn Jenner, Log Cabin Republican Vow to Take on 'Rainbow Mafia'

What is the "Rainbow Mafia?" Only trans reality TV star and failed California gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner seems to know for sure, but she has vowed to protect America from it. She's been joined in this by Log Cabin Republican Charles Moran, Newsweek reports.

The phrase seems either to have originated with or at least been given higher visibility by Jenner, who, the magazine noted, "has made increasingly frequent references to the 'Radical Rainbow Mafia' a group she has called 'domestic terrorists' and claims has 'hijacked' the LGBTQ+ community."

"In a clip briefly shared to Instagram on Saturday, Jenner appeared alongside Charles Moran, a leader in the 'Log Cabin Republicans' political organization," the article detailed. "In the video, Jenner and Moran claimed further that the 'rainbow mafia' is 'destroying the entire LGBT community.' "

Newsweek recalled that in Twitter comment, Jenner "claimed that the 'Rainbow mafia' supported 'grooming children,' a common talking point on the far-right, and the use of 'violence to shut down opposition.' "

The phrase was much in evidence in Jenner's Twitter feed on March 30, when a group of protesters – many of them high schoolers – descended on the Tennessee state capitol to demand that lawmakers there take meaningful action to address gun violence after a school shooter killed six people at The Covenant School in Nashville.

Jenner blamed the so-called "Rainbow Mafia" for the protests, claiming that a "transurrection" was taking place – a claim that seemed to jibe with other right-wing claims that exaggerated the protest with comparisons to the violent upheaval wrought by right-wing extremists at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2001.

In the end, the protest was neither violent nor driven by the LGBTQ+ community. No property damage or assaults on police were reported in the Tennessee protest, in contrast to January 6, and no arrests were made.

But that didn't stop Jenner from repeating similar claims when protestors in Kentucky were escorted out of that state's capitol building after lawmakers voted to override a veto from Gov. Andy Beshear and pass a law restricting transgender rights.

Right-wing pundits seized on reports that the shooter at the Nashville school might have identified as transgender. However, out of the 377 school shootings that have taken place since two students went on a rampage at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado in 1999 only a handful are thought to have involved trans or LGTBQ+ perpetrators.

The Associated Press, in a fact check article, noted that "Mass casualty shootings perpetrated by someone identifying as trans or nonbinary are rare, and in fact, those groups are far more likely to be the victims of violence," and added that "available information shows that the overwhelming majority of assailants in mass shootings are cisgender males."