‘It’s my Florida too’: Pulse shootg survivor Brandon Wolf on beg Black, gay and the anti-Ron DeSantis | US news | The Guardian

Contents:

• PULSE WAS MORE THAN JT A GAY CLUB: IT WAS A PLACE WHERE WE DIDN'T HAVE TO HI
• I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
• SCENE OF MASS SHOOTG MORE THAN 'JT ANOTHER GAY CLUB'
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
• ‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS
• WNS SAY ORLANDO SHOOTER AT GAY CLUBS ON A REGULAR BASIS
• GAY MUNICH · CY GUI
• SUMMER THE CY: A GAY MUNICH WEEKEND TRIP
• THE BEST MUNICH GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MUNICH

PULSE WAS MORE THAN JT A GAY CLUB: IT WAS A PLACE WHERE WE DIDN'T HAVE TO HI

But this week, the cy is also memorializg a years ago today, a gunman opened fire Pulse nightclub, a gay club Orlando, killg 49 people and woundg more than 50. It’s been nearly two years sce the mass shootg at Pulse nightclub Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people — wily believed to be an act of aggrsn agast the club’s LGBTQ clientele and “unniably a homophobic hate crime.

In fact, he allegedly had no ia Pulse was a gay club, and simply Googled “Orlando nightclubs” after fdg that secury at his origal target, a major shoppg and entertament plex, was too high, as reported by. A radil Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub, not only bee he wanted to kill Amerins, but orr to execute gay and lbian cizens, bee of their sexual orientatn. ” The followg day at a North Carola rally Tmp said, “We want to live a untry where gay and lbian Amerins and all Amerins are safe om radil Islam, which, by the way, wants to murr and has murred gays and they enslave women.

I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK

The shooter didn’t target LGBTQ people — he didn’t even realize Pulse was a gay-oriented nightclub, askg a secury guard at the club where all the women were jt before he started shootg. When the world awoke two years ago to the news that a gunman had killed 49 people at Pulse, a gay nightclub Orlando, Florida, one immediate qutn was: Why that place? Durg the attack, gunman Omar Mateen lled 911 and pledged allegiance to the lear of the vilently anti-gay Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a group that releas propaganda vios of gay men beg thrown off buildgs.

The reason he chose Pulse seemed obv: he hated gay days after the attack, on June 16, 2016, Print Barack Obama vised survivors Orlando and livered a statement.

SCENE OF MASS SHOOTG MORE THAN 'JT ANOTHER GAY CLUB'

”A few days earlier, printial ndidate Donald Tmp said at a rally, “A radil Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub, not only bee he wanted to kill Amerins, but orr to execute gay and lbian cizens, bee of their sexual orientatn. In their closg statement, ernment prosecutors admted that there was no evince to suggt that Mateen knew that Pulse was a gay leav another qutn: How uld the Pulse attack be a hate crime agast gay people if the perpetrator chose randomly?

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

In particular, mors that Mateen was a closeted gay man and had targeted the club out of first wife, Sora Yufiy, suggted an terview wh Time magaze, wh ltle evince other than his penchant for bodybuildg and mirror-gazg, that Omar Mateen uld have been gay. ”Univisn aired an terview wh a disguised man named “Miguel” who lled Mateen “100 percent” gay, but there were no electronic rerds of their alleged Grdr-facilated renzvo, and other news outlets st doubt on his Salman, wife of Pulse gunman Omar Mateen, a Facebook profile FacebookJt hours after the shootg began, Salman was an FBI terrogatn room. The terrogatn was not an exclive terview wh NBC News, one of Salman’s lawyers, Charl Swift, said the FBI agents failed to rerd the terrogatn bee they sought a nfsn for a crime they assumed was an attack on gay men, rather than a random mass shootg that targeted Amerins , who is director of the Constutnal Law Center for Mlims Ameri and a former Navy lawyer for the Judge Advote General divisn who fend men acced of terrorism at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, said beme clear to him that the FBI agents “were dog somethg different here.

An attack on the gay muny, ” Swift said.

‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS

In Orlando, people grappled wh the magnu of the horror: One man armed wh an asslt rifle and a pistol managed to kill 49 people and wound another 53 si a gay nightclub.

Upon enterg Pulse, the iends joed their chosen "fay, " a term members of the LGBT muny often e to scribe this club, one of the most popular gay venu central Florida, was more than jt a place to buy a few drks and flirt wh members of the same sex (or whomever we found attractive that night). On the back pat, I once had a iendly argument wh a gay man who said we “were no different than straight guys. ” Pulse, and other predomantly gay plac, beme opportuni for figure thgs out—who we were, how we wanted others to see as Saturday night wound down–around 2 A.

WNS SAY ORLANDO SHOOTER AT GAY CLUBS ON A REGULAR BASIS

History happened at a gay club Central Florida on Lat night. As iends and fay of the victims trawled for answers, they were met by more homophobia and hate—a reason gay clubs such as Pulse are still important to the LGBT muny. But as a gay man, I have been fightg my whole life to enjoy the very privileg I am entled to as both a beholr and protector of them.

I was one of few soldiers who joed the service before graduatg high school, but the admistratn at the time, which I believe was homophobic, chose to act as if I never existed bee of my queer hate that I experienced growg up on Long Island was my first enunter wh how others would treat me as a queer soldier. Across central Florida, the 49 victims killed and dozens more survivors of the massacre at a gay-iendly nightclub were remembered wh the unveilg of a 44-foot (13.

GAY MUNICH · CY GUI

-- Across central Florida, the 49 victims killed and dozens more survivors of the massacre at a gay-iendly nightclub were remembered wh the unveilg of a 44-foot (13. Five years after the mass shootg that killed 49 people at Pulse nightclub Orlando, Fla., Barbara Poma, who -found the clive gay nightspot honor of her brother, says the emotnal trma is still h. "Beg raised a strict Italian fay, beg gay was owned upon, " Poma had explaed on the club's webse before the shootg occurred.

One of the owners of the Orlando nightclub where 50 people were shot ad early Sunday started  to promote awarens of the area's lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny. ”Pulse refers to self as "not jt another gay club. "Beg raised a strict Italian fay, beg gay was owned upon.

SUMMER THE CY: A GAY MUNICH WEEKEND TRIP

"It was important to create an atmosphere that embraced the gay liftyle wh dér that would make John proud. "Police: Mass shootg at Orlando gay nightclubAcrdg to Poma's LkedIn profile, she works for RB Management, a pany that operat three tablishments: Wildsi Bar & Grille rtrants, Paco's Italian Ristorante and Pulse Orlando. "Pulse is scribed on the GayCi webse as havg "three different areas to mix up, cludg an outdoor pat.

" Orlando wrapped up s annual week-long Gay Days ftival on June 6. As many as 150, 000 the LGBT muny attend area theme parks, gay nightclubs and special events. It was the 25th anniversary of Gay Days, one of the largt gay pri events the world.

THE BEST MUNICH GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MUNICH

So he equented Pulse, a beloved gay nightclub known for star-studd drag shows and bachata-sountracked “Lat Nights. “What happened at Pulse was … kd of labeled as a gay issue, when realy wasn’t.

But before “Pulse” me to mean “one of the adlit mass shootgs US history, one that primarily targeted people of lor at a gay nightclub, ” Pulse was synonymo wh home.