Armed Queers group trains radical Marxists to shoot just miles from where Charlie Kirk was murdered

Amid the snow-capped mountains and Mormon churches of Utah, not far from where FBI agents continue to scour for more evidence in Charlie Kirk’s assassination, a self-described armed revolutionary group openly aligned with Cuba has risen up on the streets of one of America’s most conservative states.

Armed Queers SLC says its mission is to train gay, queer and transgender people to arm themselves and to fight against capitalism. Although their purported Facebook page does not directly appear to encourage the use of firearms in their claimed mission, many of the images used depict firearms. As recently as this spring, its members traveled to Cuba for a meeting to celebrate the May Day holiday and participate in a march and events alongside revolutionaries from around the world.

The group posted photos on its public Instagram account—which was deleted on Friday—of its young students attending, and its leaders openly discussed how the communist regime agenda and this American group’s agenda were aligned in a YouTube video after the visit to Havana. The video has been scrubbed and is not available in any web archive, but Just the News took a careful transcription of the discussion prior to its deletion.

Two leaders of Armed Queers — Ermyia Fanaeian and a man who called himself "Connor" — discussed their trip to Cuba in a since-deleted May video titled, “Cuba Report Back: Our Time as 2025 May Day Brigadistas.” A search by Just the News could not positively identify him. 

The group's core principles

The Armed Queers leaders made it clear that they had been inspired by the Cuban revolution while over there and that they were looking to bring the revolution back to America. 

Connor said that “we were there in Cuba to learn and to learn of the successes of the revolution and bring it back home with us.” Rema said that “we definitely felt the pressure” to bring the revolution back to America, saying that she was essentially told in Cuba that “okay y'all are here, y'all are learning this information, you're learning how we made our revolution, but now it's time for you to go home and make your own revolution.”

The Utah-based Armed Queers of Salt Lake City (SLC) was founded in 2020 and describes itself as “a revolutionary LGBTQ organization dedicated to the defense, and success, of oppressed people’s movements.” 

Armed Queers SLC merges armed community defense and LGBTQ activism with anti-imperialism with the goal of “advancing a broader struggle against capitalism and state violence,” according to a review of its public social media posts and materials.

The group did not respond to a request for comment sent to its email account. As of Saturday, their Facebook page does not indicate that Tyler Robinson is or was a follower of the group. Just The News was unable to determine if he had been a member or follower prior to any such evidence possibly being deleted.

Robinson, a 22-year-old who had anti-fascist messaging engraved on his ammunition found by law enforcement, was charged with several felonies, including aggravated murder for the shooting of conservative leader Charlie Kirk.

The Armed Queers claimed to abide by six principles, an archive of the group’s membership application describes. The first principle is the “armed and militant protection of queer and trans communities.” The group also aims to achieve “the end of capitalist oppression and exploitation,” the “creation of a socialist society,” “trans liberation,” and the “abolition of prisons and police,” the principles describe. 

Armed Queers is an explicitly Communist organization. One leader of the group said at a July event that “we are a queer and trans-led Marxist-Leninist organization.”

Acted as security detail for drag shows against "right-wingers"

The group’s now-deleted Instagram account shows Armed Queers holding monthly training sessions to develop “self-defense knowledge.” According to photographs archived by Just the News before the social media account was taken down, members were trained in the use of firearms. 

You can see some of the group's archived posts below: 

Members of the group also deployed themselves to serve as security at events. The group tweeted in March 2023 that “Armed Queers spent our Friday night yesterday defending an all-ages drag show with armed defense. A show that was protested by right-wingers last month. The rise in violence has amped up against Queer spaces across the country. It is vital for us to fight for a better world.” In November 2023, Armed Queers members guarded an event that was part of “Trans Awareness Week,” according to a post from their social media account on X. 

It is not known whether the group carries sidearms to events with children in attendance, but Utah's "open carry" law has some restrictions regarding schools and other places in which children could be in attendance.

The group’s posts show that members of the Armed Queers traveled to Havana to participate in the May 1, 2025, Brigade initiative celebrating “National Workers Day” and were promoted in the United States by the National Network on Cuba (NNOC). Armed Queers SLC is listed as a Member Organization on NNOC’s website. Other member organizations include the Communist Party USA, the Democratic Socialists of America, and the Socialist Workers Party.

“As part of Armed Queers’ international solidarity work, Armed Queers will be sending a couple of our members to Cuba as a part of a yearly May Day Brigade with the National Network on Cuba,” the group announced on their Instagram profile on February 24. 

May Day Brigade and bringing the revolution home: The Cuban connection

“Activists around the country will visit the island to learn from the Cuban people, bring back lessons to movements we are a part of, and engage in mutual aid work in solidarity with the Cuban people,” the post continued. 

One of the group’s former organizers, Ermyia Fanaeian, who traveled with Armed Queers to Havana, Cuba, posted a reflection on the experience to her personal social media account. 

“Cuba, words cannot describe the power, steadfastness, and fervor that your revolution has created,” said Fanaeian, who is also a featured voice on NNOC’s social media profile. "Spending time in Cuba has made me, alongside my comrades, acutely aware of our duty in the belly of the beast.” 

Fanaeian did not respond to a request for comment sent to a social media account. 

The description for the group’s since-deleted video from May stated that “Organizers of Armed Queers traveled to Cuba as members of the annual May Day Brigade. They sat down for a discussion on what they learned, and what they’ll be bringing back to the movements in the U.S.”

Connor also said that “I recalled a very powerful moment at the Mayday March of me realizing just how much the Cuban people believed in us to make a change.”

“What did we bring back? … The main thing we brought back was a discipline from the lifestyle of the camp,” Connor said. “And also I brought back a real feeling of inspiration, a feeling that we have a world to win, and a feeling that victory is ours and that revolution will come. And I think that that's the real thing that we're bringing back is a will to affect change and a will to try to support the Cuban people and to support revolution all around the world.”

Rema said the trip to Cuba was important for “breaking that barrier of information that the U.S. is trying to hide from us about just how successful the revolution is and also just how steadfast and passionate the Cuban people are in protecting the revolution.”

“We were sharing this brigade, not just other American brigadistas, but brigadistas from around the world, from South Africa, from Ghana, from other Latin American countries, from Australia, from Germany,” Rema said. “And essentially, this was an international brigade where they wanted brigadistas with a revolutionary orientation with revolutionary politics to come and learn about the human revolution and essentially have to fight against this blockade that our country as American representatives on this trip was fully responsible for.”

Armed Queers joined with the National Network on Cuba

Connor said the trip to Cuba was also helpful in bringing together like-minded American revolutionary groups.

“I became accustomed with these orgs that are influential in their different parts of the USA and I started to understand the way that they worked and their vision for revolution and I think that that shaped mine and then I also hope that I was able to speak about Armed Queers’ goals and Armed Queers methods of work and I hope that that had a lasting impact on them as well,” he said.

Connor added: “You wouldn't find a single brigadista that did not support Palestine. Everywhere you would see support for Palestine. And that goes for the Cuban country as a whole.”

The NNOC seeks to reverse U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba, including fully ending U.S. restrictions toward Cuba and removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

NNOC's “Political Education” page tells readers, “Looking for news sources that tell the truth – not corporate lies – about Cuba? Here are some of our recommended outlets.” Among those outlets are the Communist propaganda outlet People’s World, which is a successor to the Communist Daily Worker newspaper, and the Communist People’s Dispatch outlet, which is affiliated with the Manhattan-based Communist organization known as The People’s Forum, which is part of wealthy Marxist businessman Neville Singham’s broad financial network.

ICAP also oversees and coordinates the VB’s trips to Cuba, and also helps support the activities of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), whose leadership and activities are also closely tied to far-left groups bolstered by Singham’s financial network. Armed Queers and PSL have coordinated at events and held training on leftwing organizing together.

The NNOC also provides a recommended “Book List” with multiple books written by Communist Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and his enforcer, Communist guerrilla revolutionary Che Guevara.

Armed Queers tweeted in June 2023 that the group was “excited to endorse the @NNOCuba [National Network on Cuba] #OffTheList campaign, joining organizations around the country in a weekend full of actions calling on Biden to remove Cuba from the ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ list.”

NNOC tweeted in October 2023 about its annual meeting in Boston, giving “a big welcome to our newest member organizations” including Armed Queers.

Armed Queers are listed among the NNOC’s membership organizations, along with the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, Code Pink, the Communist Party USA, the Democratic Socialists of America, and the Socialist Workers Party. 

Another member of NNOC is the Venceremos Brigade (VB), a far-left activist group sympathetic to the Communist revolution in Cuba and which U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies as well as Cuban defectors have identified as being co-opted by Cuban intelligence services, and which was also linked to violent groups such as the Weather Underground. 

The Weather Underground, which was mostly active in the 1960's, resurfaced as a matter of public debate in 2008 when it was discovered that one of its leaders, Bill Ayers, had a long and initially-denied relationship with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The VB is now fiscally-sponsored by Singham-backed The People’s Forum which calls itself "a movement incubator." The VB also organizes regular trips to Cuba in coordination with the Cuban government.

The VB — similar in purpose to the May Day Brigade and also part of the NNOC — touts that “in the last 50 years, approximately 10,000 people from the US have traveled to Cuba with the VB, including elected officials, labor leaders, artists and entertainers, academics, activists, and social movement leaders.”

Armed Queers, Stonewall Self-Defense, and Eric King

Armed Queers has held events with Stonewall Self-Defense, a group which provides “Jiu Jitsu/MMA” and focuses on “Queer, Trans, Comrades.” The group’s Instagram page says that the group’s manager, Sebastian Livingston, was the “Chair of the Ecosocialist Commission for the Socialist Party USA.” Stonewall Self-Defense recently held a training event with convicted felon Eric King.

“Join Us in Welcoming Eric King – Former Political Prisoner & World Class Amateur Boxer to Stonewall Self Defense for a weekend of radical self defense. Eric King has dedicated his life to fighting for a freer world,” Stonewall Self-Defense said in June. “Join us … for a discussion on resistance and resilience and his experience as a political prisoner. THEN join us … at Stonewall Self Defense for – ‘Self-Defense Behind Bars’ – A rare, hands-on seminar drawing from Eric’s unparalleled experience as a trained fighter in one of the most dangerous environments.”

After the event, the group posted: “Thank you Eric King for kicking it with us and sharing your experience this weekend! You always have a home in SLC and Stonewall Self Defense Club. Power to all Queer and Trans people! TOWARDS LIBERATION!”

King was charged in 2014 with attempting to firebomb a congressional office in Kansas City. He used a hammer to break a window and threw Molotov cocktails into the office of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II. King pleaded guilty in 2016 to using explosive materials to commit arson, and was sentenced to a decade in prison. He was released from prison in 2023, according to Unicorn Riot, a self-described tax-exempt media outfit that "reports underrepresented stories and sheds light on alternative perspectives and systems." Unicorn Riot photographed King leaving prison in 2023 wearing a “Protect Trans Rights” t-shirt with the graphic of a large knife on it.

While behind bars, King wrote a book titled Antifa in Prison, with Radical Paper Press describing King as a “vegan anarchist and political prisoner.” King also helped put together and edited the book Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners, with a foreword written by Angela Davis, the former vice presidential candidate for the Communist Party USA. King describes himself as an “activist” and “antifascist.” Davis, after her arrest and acquittal for her involvement in a murder committed by Black Panthers, is currently a Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies Departments at the University of California, Santa Cruz. 

Armed Queers embrace Marx, Mao, and Communist terror groups

Armed Queers and Stonewall Self-Defense both spoke at an event about "How to Organize in SLC" at Ken Sanders Rare Books in July.

A woman identified only as "Erica" from Armed Queers said that “we are a queer and trans-led Marxist-Leninist organization in the area who focuses on the self-defense, determination, and liberation of all queer people.”

Livingston of Stonewall Self-Defense said that “we are a queer MMA school in Salt Lake City… Our mission is to train queers of the community to fight back.” Stonewall Self-Defense did not respond to a request for comment sent to its social media account. 

A review of posts, websites, and reading lists from Armed Queers show the group embracing Marxism, as well as suggesting support for Maoism and Communist terrorist groups.

The group also says on Substack that it is a “Socialist LGBTQ Organization based out of Salt Lake City. We believe that liberation is only achievable through the ending of capitalist/imperialist exploitation and the creation of a socialist system.”

The group’s recommended reading list includes four books by Communist Manifesto author Karl Marx, four books by Communist Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, two books by Communist Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, two books by Chinese Communist Party dictator Mao Tse Dong, a book by socialist Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, Angela Davis, and more.

Armed Queers provided recommended “Sources” to read in a document titled, Not the First, Not the Last: A History of Queer and Trans Resistance. This reading list from the group included multiple recommended readings about the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA).

The U.S. government designated the CPP and the NPA as foreign terrorist organizations in 2002 in the wake of 9/11.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed that the CCP “and its armed wing” the NPA “seek to overthrow the Philippine Government, establish a communist state, and expel US influence from the Philippines.”

Armed Queers published a Medium article about longtime Communist activist Leslie Feinberg’s book Trans Liberation, with the group saying the activist is a “revolutionary who embodies the connection between Queer and Trans Liberation struggles and anti-capitalism.” The article said that “Feinberg weaves together themes such as the division within LGBTQ groups, the complexities of labels, repression from the heteronormative society, and the need to fight colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. Feinberg, a self-described ‘revolutionary communist’, writes Trans Liberation from a Marxist perspective.”

A since-deleted video on YouTube from the group which was posted in December was titled, Reject Imperialist Feminism: A Marxist Feminist Discussion on the 2024 Election.

Armed Queers last month criticized the progressive “No Kings” protest movement over the movement’s purported embrace of concepts such as the U.S. Constitution and American democracy, with the Armed Queers group essentially saying that the movement was too pro-American.

“What are the concrete demands of the No Kings Protests and the 50501 movement? Broadly, they set out to ‘defend the constitution’ and ‘US democracy.’ Even in something as basic as the slogan of ‘No Kings,’ you find the implication that Donald Trump is un-American,” Armed Queers wrote on Substack. “The truth is that he doesn’t need to be king because he’s already president, and his policies are as American as apple pie.”

Armed Queers and anti-Israel activism

Armed Queers tells its followers to “learn more about how Utah” is allegedly “supplying genocide” in Palestine.

“No pride in apartheid!” Armed Queers said on Facebook in December 2023. “As the attacks against occupied Palestine continue at the hands of Israel and the United States, Queer, Trans, and Feminist organizations all over the world have overwhelmingly come out in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. And have rejected pinkwashing tactics that use our name for colonial efforts.”

"Pinkwashing," according to some scholars and activists, is a term used to describe a variety of marketing and political strategies aimed at promoting products, countries, people or entities to LGBTQ+ people or using LGBTQ+ related labels in order to be perceived as progressive, modern and tolerant.

Armed Queers wrote on Medium in May 2024 that “since October 7th, the conditions of Palestinains continue to worsen as the IOF (israeli [sic] Occupation Forces) unleashes a brutal genocide, displacement, and destruction in Gaza that has also led to mass killings, arrests, stravation and little to no access to water, and increased rogue settler violence in the occupied West Bank.”

Armed Queers has also coordinated with a group called Arabs in Utah. The description for Arabs in Utah on the group’s Instagram page provides three outside links to anti-Israel websites: “Artists Against Apartheid”, a webpage called “Israel Massacres”, and a group called The Palestine Academy which contains a list of purported “classes” railing against Israel and Zionism.

An opinion piece in the Daily Utah Chronicle in 2024 which was opposing Utah’s bid to win the 2034 Olympic Winter Games quoted the leaders of both groups in their opposition. “Mohammad N. of Arabs in Utah” reportedly said that “I don’t think Utah deserves to host the Olympics,” while Ermiya Fanaeian of Armed Queers said that “I think so long as America is funding a genocide, so long as America does nothing about these anti-trans attacks … then they need to be held accountable.”

It was reported by Variety in January that Armed Queers, Arabs in Utah, and other groups protested “media complicity in genocide” at the Sundance Film Festival. Although Armed Queers supports Palestinian statehood, gay rights are highly restricted in Palestine, and in some cases, provide for criminal prosecution of gay men, depending on the region. In Gaza, male homosexual activity is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.

Armed Queers and the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan

Armed Queers has also coordinated with the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan, a leftist movement that militates for a socialist society.

The local University of Utah chapter of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (their name in Spanish) and abbreviated M.E.Ch.A. or just Mecha, has declared principles including “termination of oppressive systems; capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, racism, cis-heteropatriarchy, etc.” as well as “a return to communal land ownership of traditional and unceded Indigenous lands.”

Mecha U of U also seeks “a socialist society” and “armed militant protection for our communities” and has teamed up with Armed Queers multiple times.

“Thank you to everyone who showed up to the Mecha de U of U x Armed Queers lecture on Queer Resistance last night!” Armed Queers tweeted in September 2023. “Despite much of the intimidation the event received, you all showed up and were energized the entire night! It is clear that the people’s energy is alive and well!”

Mecha members protested a speech by Daily Wire commentator Michael Knowles at the University of Utah, according to the Daily Utah Chronicle, which reported that Armed Queers acted as “security” for Mecha at the protest. Armed Queers member Andrew Butterfield was quoted as saying that it is “always important to agitate when fascists organize.”