After Fatal Shooting Of Ally, A Growing LGBTQ+ Mountain Community Takes Stock And Looks Forward

The rainbow pride flag Laura Ann Carleton flew outside her Lake Arrowhead clothing store was one marker of an increasingly visible LGBTQ+ community in the San Bernardino mountains.

Though Carleton, who went by Lauri, was not LGTBQ+, members of the community and her family said she was an ally.

“You definitely know you feel welcome in a store like Lauri’s,'' local realtor and financial professional Daniel Bittner said. “You don't have to worry about prejudice or acting 'too gay.'”

Last Friday, a 27-year-old man tore down the brightly colored flag, hurled homophobic slurs, and shot Carleton when she confronted him, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies later shot and killed the suspect when he fired and struck their vehicles.

Piles of bouquets, candles, and rainbow flags now fill the Mag.Pi storefront. The community is processing a loss that is singular but reflects growing threats against LGBTQ+ people and those who support them.

“We've made great strides in building a community and creating safe spots,” Bittner said. “We just never would have thought such violence would come of it all.”

The Rim of the World highway links more than a half-dozen San Bernardino Mountain communities where locals mix with summer and winter vacationers.

Daniel Bittner moved to Running Springs part-time in the late ‘90s and early 2000s.

“Being openly gay in the mountains, there was no community there,” Bittner said. “You could wander all day and not run into another gay person.”

Bittner said while he was walking down the street once, a group of four guys jumped him and shouted anti-gay slurs. When he was younger, he often sported a mohawk and bright clothing.

“They knew that I was different,” Bittner said.

Still, after Bittner met his partner, a Lake Arrowhead salon owner, eight years ago, he put down roots and moved to neighboring Crestline full-time. About 20,000 people live between the two communities.

Up to 5% of America’s rural population is LGBTQ+, about the same proportion of the general population, according to research from the think tank Movement Advancement Project.

“Who doesn't want to like step out and see a bunch of beautiful trees and animals and birds and nature,” Bittner said. "I never got that down the hill anywhere.”

During last winter’s punishing winter storms, people checked on their elderly neighbors and organized food and supply runs.

“There was a lot of solidarity in the community and putting forth efforts to make sure everybody was okay or taken care of,” Bittner said.

The LGBTQ+ community has become more visible in recent years.

Matthew Clevenger followed his cousin’s footsteps and moved to the area in 2016 with his husband. Within a few years, they’d met and become friends with Bittner and his partner.

On a typical “Big Gay Sunday,” they take the boat out, barbecue, and hit a local pub.

“We're not constantly watching our backs up there,” Clevenger said. “We hold hands. We're affectionate in public.”

In early 2020, the informal meet-ups grew into monthly gatherings with the larger Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ community.

Pandemic social distancing prompted the first Pride boat parade that summer. Now rainbow flags fly on the water throughout the season.

The events evolved into Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+, a non-profit with a larger mission of creating a safe and inclusive community.

More than two dozen businesses including restaurants, coffee roasters, vacation rentals, and fitness centers support the organization as “business allies.”

One of them was Carleton’s Cedar Glen clothing store, Mag.Pi.

The organization’s events have also attracted families like Cheryl Kol’s.

She moved to Crestline in 2020 with her husband and three kids. Kol, who is Filipino, said her middle son is 17 and came out as gay several years ago.

There have been a few “looks” but “for the most part, though, everybody has been welcoming and very kind,” Kol said.

She attended this summer’s Pride with her 9-year-old daughter and her friends.

The weekend included the boat parade, a concert with “Bass Down Low” singer Dev and performances from Long Beach drag queen Jewels, Delta Work and Mayhem Million of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” fame.

“We’re just happy to celebrate the uniqueness and the individuality of people,” Kol said. “Hopefully people see that we’re not a threat while supporting this community.”

Kimber Christie saw posts about the festivities on Instagram.

“I still honestly can’t believe that the gays have made it up to Arrowhead,” Christie wrote in response to a video of the main stage.

Christie grew up in the mountain communities and said she was one one of few LGBTQ+ people in high school. She found a small group of friends, but left soon after graduating in 2014.

“There really wasn't much room for growth up there. I wanted to travel, see the world,” Christie said. “I wanted to find a community for myself.”

Christie is now a Navy sonar technician and lives in Hillcrest, the heart of San Diego’s LGBTQ+ community.

Now, she visits to see old friends showing the sometimes halting growth of LGBTQ+ acceptance in her hometown. Once, someone ripped a rainbow bear sticker from her car’s bumper. Another time, Christie made a special trip to buy Lake Arrowhead Brewery’s now-annual summer Pride beer.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Christie said. “You're showing little kids, ‘Hey, it's OK to be gay.’ Whereas, you know, I didn't have that growing up whatsoever.”

Authorities continue to investigate the shooting. Sheriff Shannon Dicus said in a press conference Monday that the suspected shooter maintained several social media accounts that posted anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments.

An image of a burning pride flag is pinned to the top of an X account that shares his name.

“There have not been any other reported hate crimes in the mountain communities in recent times,” Dicus said at the same conference and noted that there were four seemingly unrelated hate crimes in 2022.

Bittner, Clevenger and residents in online forums say there are more subtle signs of intolerance.

Lake Arrowhead Brewing announced a rainbow sherbert sour as the third annual “Pride Brew” in June. The majority of the 400 plus comments on Instagram were positive, but several people expressed disgust, accused the brewery of pushing an agenda and said they wouldn’t be returning.

Other businesses and homes have had their pride flags tampered with. Clevenger said people have called the local lake association with unfounded complaints about the boat parade.

There is an increasing threat of violence against LGBTQ+ people and their allies. In the last year, there were more than 350 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents, ranging from vandalism to assault, to the deadly mass shooting at a Colorado gay bar that killed five people.

“Discrimination and harassment against LGBTQ people happens everywhere,” said Logan Casey, senior policy researcher at the Movement Advancement Project. “That's not a uniquely rural problem.”

Not all people are targeted equally.

LGBTQ+ people of color are more likely to experience discrimination than their white counterparts. Transgender people are four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violence including rape and sexual assault.

Movement Advancement Project tracks legislation and has counted more than 700 “anti-LGBTQ+” bills introduced across the country this year. The legislation ranges from restrictions on drag performances to bans on gender-affirming health care.

“California being one of the best states in the country when it comes to LGBTQ policies on the books doesn't mean that people living in California aren't affected by the rhetoric that's happening in other states,” Casey said.

At least three Southern California school districts recently adopted a policy requiring staff to inform parents and caregivers if a child identifies as a gender other than their biological sex.

Demonstrators who want to limit discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in schools clashed with counter-protestors outside of a Los Angeles Unified School District board meeting Tuesday.

“[Carleton’s death] highlights how much more work there is for us to do all across the country no matter where we live,” Casey said. “Because everybody deserves the chance to live in the place that they call home and be free from fear.”

He said one step that anyone can take, no matter where they live, is to talk openly about their support for the LGBTQ+ community. That’s just what Carleton did, according to friends and statements from her family on social media.

“Her [Pride] flags had been torn down before and she always responded by putting up a bigger one,” daughters Ari and Kelsey Carleton wrote in an Instagram post. “We find peace in knowing she passed quickly in a place she cherished, doing what she loved while fiercely defending something she believed in.”

Carleton’s family created a memorial fund and plans to to work with Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ to “develop and amplify resources that promote LGBTQ+ awareness, equality, and inclusion,” and support other community initiatives she believed in, the website reads.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center and Flags For Good are selling a Lauri Carleton commemorative Pride flag with proceeds to benefit the organization

Clevenger said one of the organization’s existing goals was to open an LGBTQ+ community center on the mountain with recreational activities, health care, counseling and other resources

The closest option for young people is the Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance 20 miles away in San Bernardino. Adults have to travel more than 50 miles to Pomona to find in-person support, according to a national directory of LGBTQ+ centers.

“We are going to turn this into a positive experience of finding wonderful ways to support the community,” Clevenger said.