Supporting the Orlando LGBTQ Community in Wake of Tragedy

I woke up on Sunday morning to reports that a 29-year-old man gunned down and killed at least 50 people and wounded 53 others at an Orlando nightclub early that morning. Not much information was known at the time, but reports soon started spilling in, noting that this was the worst mass shooting in US history.

President Barack Obama gave a press conference later in the day and accurately described the shooting was an act of “terror and hate.” It was exactly that and anyone who tries to minimize the fact that this was a hate crime against the LGBTQ community is being disrespectful.

I’m not going to go into the specifics of what has happened (you can google and easily finds tons of news stories about this), but instead wanted to take a moment to send light and love to the LGBTQ community in Orlando who are in pain right now. Let’s all take care of each other as best we can. We’re all heartbroken and suffering in wake of this tragedy. And if you can afford it, I recommend donating to support the victims of the shooting at GoFundMe. That campaign was started by Equality Florida and you can read more about how the funds will be distributed at their page.

Back here in LA, friends of mine had invited me to LA Pride with his partner. They planned on attending the parade on Sunday and I passed on the offer because I was feeling under the weather. I texted him as soon as I read the news on Sunday and told them to be safe. He told me they decided to skip the parade because his partner had injured his leg and they were concerned if there was an emergency they wouldn’t be able to escape. It was a sobering thought. A few minutes into our conversation, he sent me a link to a story about a man with weapons who was heading to LA pride that morning.

Someone on Twitter commented about how “this is a perfect example of how coming out, going to gay prides, and just existing as a gay person in society is still an act of bravery.”

When tragedies like this happen we are sharply reminded of the hate toward the LGBTQ community that still exists in this world, but I encourage you to also remember the endless depth of our strength.

LA Times did a great article where they interviewed attendees of the LA Pride Parade and asked why they chose to attend.

“You can try to blow me up…but I was in the process of making a statement of our presence while you did it, and there will be people who will take my place.” –Sister Unity

[button link=”https://www.gofundme.com/pulsevictimsfund” color=”blue” size=”large” target=”_blank” title=”” gradient_colors=”,” gradient_hover_colors=”,” border_width=”1px” border_color=”” text_color=”” shadow=”yes” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″]Click here to donate to the Pulse Victims Fund[/button]