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

Contents:

• GUNFIRE EPTS SI FLA. GAY NIGHTCLUB
• GUNMAN MASSACR 50 AT FLORIDA GAY CLUB WORST U.S. MASS SHOOTG
• 50 KILLED FLORIDA GAY CLUB MASSACRE, ADLIT MASS SHOOTG US HISTORY
• GUNMAN KILLED 5 AT COLORADO SPRGS GAY CLUB BEFORE BEG SUBDUED BY PATRONS, POLICE SAY
• AT LEAST 50 DEAD ORLANDO GAY CLUB SHOOTG, SPECT PLEDGED ALLEGIANCE TO ISIS, OFFICIALS SAY
• ‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS
• I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
• GUNMAN KILLS 49 FLORIDA GAY NIGHTCLUB; ADLIT MASS SHOOTG U.S. HISTORY
• 50 AD, ISLAMIC TERRORISM TIE EYED ORLANDO GAY BAR SHOOTG

GUNFIRE EPTS SI FLA. GAY NIGHTCLUB

Police say a mass shootg at a gay nightclub Orlando, Florida, has rulted at least 20 people ad, wh dozens more wound. (Rters) - A man armed wh an asslt rifle killed 50 people durg a gay pri celebratn at a nightclub Orlando, Florida, early on Sunday the adlit mass shootg U.

Tourist statns as some 350 patrons were attendg a Lat mic event njunctn wh gay pri week celebratns. Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny, said LGBT advocy group Equaly Florida. "Gay clubs hold a signifint place LGBTQ history.

GUNMAN MASSACR 50 AT FLORIDA GAY CLUB WORST U.S. MASS SHOOTG

A homophobic ISIS sympathizer killed at least 50 people and wound 53 others durg a rampage at a gay nightclub Florida early Sunday — markg the untry’s adlit mass shootg. Spected gay nightclub mass shooter Omar Mateen.

Mateen’s father told NBC that his son recently got “very angry” at the sight of men kissg each other Miami and said his anti-gay fury might have triggered the massacre.

The elr Mateen told NBC that his son’s rampage “has nothg to do wh relign, ” and suggted was motivated by anti-gay hatred. NEW YORK -- The gay, lbian and transgenr muny has seen vlence before, om Harvey Milk to Matthew Shepard, and an ever-lengtheng list of transgenr women. Sunday's massacre at a gay nightclub Orlando, Florida, grimly changed the equatn, stirrg munal fears and swiftly promptg tighter secury at gay pri events.

50 KILLED FLORIDA GAY CLUB MASSACRE, ADLIT MASS SHOOTG US HISTORY

This "is a tragic illtratn of the legimate safety fears that those our LGBT muny live wh every day, " said Mike Rawlg, the mayor of Dallas, where extra police were assigned to a neighborhood that is a hub of the lol gay muny. In a separate cint Sunday, a heavily armed man was arrted Southern California even as Mateen's attack was ongog, tellg police he was on his way to attack a gay pri Jam Wley, of Indiana, had asslt rifl, ammunn and chemils that uld be ed to make an explosive, acrdg to police, who said there was no evince of a nnectn to the Orlando massacre.

Before Sunday, the most proment cints of vlence agast gays claimed one life at a time. The hight profile of the clud the murr of Milk, a pneerg gay polician San Francis 1978, and the 1998 murr of Shepard, a gay llege stunt Wyomg at the hands of two men who beat him to a a while he was tied to a fence. "There have been a few prev attacks on gay nightclubs, but only one that ed a signifint number of aths.

GUNMAN KILLED 5 AT COLORADO SPRGS GAY CLUB BEFORE BEG SUBDUED BY PATRONS, POLICE SAY

31, 2013, about 750 people were celebratg New Year's Eve at Neighbours, a popular gay nightclub Seattle, when Mab Masmari poured gasole on a rpeted stairway and set ablaze. Robert Matenc, who works as a host at Neighbours, said the club rpond to the arson attack by addg extra secury guards durg large special events, and trag employe crowd 's attack stck a place that has long been thought of as a safe haven for the muny -- the gay nightclub. "Nightclubs have always been sacred spac for queer people, plac to gather and glter away om the judgg glar of society, where we uld love and be loved for who we are and how we want to be, " wrote Pl Rshenbh, a clergyman and popular gay wrer, exprsg his heartbreak a lengthy, emotnal post on Facebook which he relled gog out dancg while at semary New many ci, vigils were planned at LGBT muny centers and other gatherg spots to memorate the victims New York Cy, LGBT people and their alli nverged on the Stonewall Inn Greenwich Village spontaneo reactn to the shootg.

The Manhattan bar beme a natnal symbol of gay rights after a 1969 police raid led to vlent street ont of the red brick faça, Cameron Cano stood proudly wh a rabow flag draped over her shoulrs. Stonewall is "where we go when thgs like this happen, " said Andy Humm, host of the "Gay USA" TV gay bars add secury measur, or nsired dog so the aftermath of the Orlando attack. "We have a lot of nightclubs that are gay nightclubs, " Evans said.

AT LEAST 50 DEAD ORLANDO GAY CLUB SHOOTG, SPECT PLEDGED ALLEGIANCE TO ISIS, OFFICIALS SAY

"At eagleBOLT, a gay bar Mneapolis, patrons watched big-screen TVs silence as Print Barack Obama nounced the Orlando shootg as an "act of terror. Pl, Mnota, said he to gay bars to relax. A 22-year-old gunman opened fire wh a semitomatic rifle si a gay nightclub Colorado Sprgs, killg five people and leavg 25 jured before he was subdued by "heroic" patrons and arrted by police who arrived wh mut, thori said spect the Saturday night shootg at Club Q ed an AR-15-style semitomatic weapon, a law enforcement official said.

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

Suthers said there was "reason to hope" that all of those hospalized would shootg rekdled memori of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people. He said patrons who tervened durg the attack were "heroic" and owed a bt of gratu for preventg more Q is a gay and lbian nightclub that featur a drag show on Saturdays, acrdg to s webse.

Jared Polis, who beme the first openly gay man the Uned Stat to be elected ernor 2018, lled the shootg "sickeng. Experts warned that extremist groups uld see anti-gay rhetoric as a ll to prev month, a fundamentalist Idaho pastor told his small Boise ngregatn that gay, lbian and transgenr people should be executed by the ernment, which led up wh siar sermons om a Texas fundamentalist 2006, there have been 523 mass killgs and 2, 727 aths as of Nov. An Amerin-born man who’d pledged allegiance to ISIS gunned down 49 people early Sunday at a gay nightclub Orlando, the adlit mass shootg the Uned Stat and the natn’s worst terror attack sce 9/11, thori said.

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

While the vlence uld have h any Amerin muny, “This is an pecially heartbreakg day for our iends who are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr, ” he said. A msage posted Arabic on a dark web se associated wh the ISIS news agency Amaq said “the armed attack that targeted a gay night club the cy of Orlando the Amerin state of Florida and that bore more than a 100 killed and wound was rried out by an Islamic state fighter.

She said the language is nsistent wh prev ISIS announcements and that the Arabic word for gay was ed rather than an ephet normally ed by ISIS. Pulse scrib self as “the hottt gay bar” the heart of Orlando. — -- The massacre at an Orlando gay nightclub early this morng has been scribed as a "domtic terror cint, " wh at least 50 ad and 53 jured, officials said, makg the worst mass shootg U.

Orlando police tweeted, "The shooter si the nightclub is ad, " referrg to Pulse Nightclub, which bills self on s webse as "Orlando's Premier Gay Night Club. "It's no cince the attack took place where did and when did, " he said reference to the fact that Pulse was a gay nightclub.

GUNMAN KILLS 49 FLORIDA GAY NIGHTCLUB; ADLIT MASS SHOOTG U.S. HISTORY

”Wolf had sought refuge Florida 15 years ago when he was done wh ral Oregon, the childhood home where he suffered embedd racism and homophobia on a daily basis. Among his motivatns for wrg the book was to reclaim tersectnaly om DeSantis and others on the right who seek to hijack explas: “I wanted to give a human flavour to what tersectnaly actually looks and feels like and what feels like to experience racism and homophobia at the same time. Growg up a nservative majory whe town was difficult bee the same kid who would ll me the N-word on one day would ll me a homophobic slur on another day and I was nstantly navigatg the tersectns of those two thgs.

Last month DeSantis’s mpaign released an anti-LGBTQ+ vio assailg Tmp for his past support of gay and transgenr ments: “It is a sry time to be not jt LGBTQ but LGBTQ and Black this state and ultimately that’s the tent. 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. 50 are reported ad and dozens jured after a gunman took hostag at Pulse, a gay nightclub Orlando, Florida. Gay nightclub.

50 AD, ISLAMIC TERRORISM TIE EYED ORLANDO GAY BAR SHOOTG

- A shootg and hostage suatn early Sunday at a Florida nightclub -- which scrib self as "Orlando's hottt gay bar" -- left an timated 50 people ad, cludg the gunman, and more than 50 jured, officials say. ”The killgs rekdled memori of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people. Colorado Sprgs, the state’s send-most populo cy wh jt unr 500, 000 rints, is home to a number of ary bas and is the headquarters for Foc on the Fay, the nservative Christian group that says homosexualy and same-sex marriage are ss.

He and his bs partner toured other succsful LGBTQ spac and noted a mon theme: “They were gay as hell, ” Grzecka told the outlet. We knew we had to be gay as hell (to survive).