Lesbian teen outs Trump-supporting family in DC harassment
A lesbian teenager has revealed that her Trump-supporting family was involved in the harassment of a Black woman in Washington, DC a day before the riots shook the Capitol.
18-year old Helena Duke said she had been kicked out of her home by her mother– a supporter of President Donald Trump– previously because she had supported the Black Lives Matter protests.
Helena identified her mother, an aunt, and an uncle from a video of a violent encounter in DC on Tuesday evening, before the riots happened.
Trump-supporting family goes to Washington, DC
Helena related that her mother, Theresa Duke, told her a week prior that she was accompanying a family member for a medical treatment. It was then she noticed that her mother had turned off her GSP-location app.
A day after the riots in the Capitol, Helena received a video from a cousin of an encounter between a group of white people and a Black woman on the streets of DC.
Helena saw in the video her mother together with her aunt and uncle, Annie and Richard Lorenz, and her mother was trying to grab the Black woman.
She identified her family members in the video in a tweet: “Hi this is the liberal lesbian of the family who has been kicked out multiple times for her views and for going to BLM protests to care what happens to me.”
She told BuzzFeed News: “My initial reaction was more like, ‘Oh my gosh, I was right. I was actually right about them being there’.”
“It was very surreal because it was an insane video, first of all, and then it was the revelation that, ‘Oh, that’s my mother. That’s her’,” she added.
Identifying members of her Trump-supporting family
After Helena watched the video, she texted her mother about the “medical appointment” and asked where she was during that time. Her mother didn’t reply to her question.
When Helena saw that people online were trying to identify the group in the video, she decided to reveal their names.
In a later tweet, she said, “hi mom remember the time you told me I shouldn’t go to BLM protests bc they could get violent… this you?”
Later on, her family members contacted her to remove their names in her tweets. Helena refused because she said she doesn’t believe she did anything wrong.
An aunt texted her: “We are not proud of how things went in DC. I know you are upset but putting us in danger isn’t going to solve anything. Please… I am Begging you to remove.”
While it seems like the family members had gone to Washington in support of Trump, there is no confirmation if they had also participated in the Capitol riots.
Life as a ‘liberal lesbian’ teen
Helena related that when she had participated in a BLM protest, her mother found out and kicked her out of the house because BLM “a violent organization and they would be inciting violence.”
She said, “I always felt almost heartbroken over how they viewed the world and how skewed it was and how they wouldn’t allow me to express my views.”
“But showing that they can act in such a horrible way is just really appalling to me,” she added.
“I am honestly very disappointed to have to be part of this family that is so… just, very not welcoming or supportive. I don’t feel safe being part of this family,” she declared.
Many people have responded to her tweets on how they also lost friends and relatives because they were supporters of Trump or QAnon.
Helena said, “I think it kind of makes me feel better knowing other people have gone through the same thing. I obviously feel very sad that they have to go through it too, but that I’m not alone, and that they’re not alone.”
Presently, Helena is trying to raise funds through a GoFundMe so that she can attend law school and join the PEace Corps. She is also helping to raise funds for the Black woman her mother harassed.