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

Contents:

• ORLANDO NIGHTCLUB SHOOTG: MASS CASUALTI AFTER GUNMAN OPENS FIRE GAY CLUB
• ‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS
• KEV MAXEN, JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH, OUT AS FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE ACH NFL
• ISIS CLAIMS RPONSIBILY FOR ATTACK AT ORLANDO GAY CLUB, THE DEADLIT MASS SHOOTG U.S. HISTORY
• 50 AD, ISLAMIC TERRORISM TIE EYED ORLANDO GAY BAR SHOOTG
• AT LEAST 50 DEAD ORLANDO GAY CLUB SHOOTG, SPECT PLEDGED ALLEGIANCE TO ISIS, OFFICIALS SAY
• ORLANDO GUNMAN ATTACKS GAY NIGHTCLUB, LEAVG 50 DEAD
• 50 KILLED FLORIDA GAY CLUB MASSACRE, ADLIT MASS SHOOTG US HISTORY

ORLANDO NIGHTCLUB SHOOTG: MASS CASUALTI AFTER GUNMAN OPENS FIRE GAY CLUB

The shootg Sce s openg 2004, Orlando’s Pulse dance club had tablished self as one of central Florida’s most vibrant centr for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer (LGBTQ) social life. 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. 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.

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

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. At least 50 people were killed and more than 50 others were wound when a gunman opened fire and took hostag at a gay nightclub Orlando, Florida, early Sunday shooter, intified by several law enforcement sourc as Omar Mateen, 29, was killed a shootout wh law enforcement after a three-hour massacre — the worst mass shootg the history of the Uned Stat — began when the gunman stormed the Pulse Nightclub about 2 a. ""This is an pecially heartbreakg day for our iends fellow Amerins who are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr, " Obama said, llg the attack "an act of terror and an act of hate.

Saturday night was Lat Night at Pulse, one of the cy's bt-known gay clubs, and the place was packed wh patrons both gay and straight, young and not-so-young, om the U. At least two men said they teracted wh Mateen on gay datg apps.

But "the FBI has found no evince so far to support claims by those who say Mateen had gay lovers or munited on gay datg apps, " acrdg to the Los Angel Tim. ”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.

KEV MAXEN, JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH, OUT AS FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE ACH NFL

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. Jacksonville Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen me out publicly as gay Thursday, makg him the first known openly gay male ach the NFL and men’s profsnal sports the Uned Stat. RAIDERS' CARL NASSIB ON COMING OUT GAY: ‘I DIDN’T KNOW IF IT WOULD RUIN MY CAREER' "It wasn’t until recently — and wh the immense love and support of my fay, my iends, lleagu and peers, and the urage and sacrifice om my partner — that I realized I have the right and rponsibily to love and be loved, and that maybe sharg this will hopefully give someone else the strength to accept their own life and take ntrol of their own story, " Maxen explaed.

ISIS CLAIMS RPONSIBILY FOR ATTACK AT ORLANDO GAY CLUB, THE DEADLIT MASS SHOOTG U.S. HISTORY

In the NFL, Tampa Bay Bucneers fensive leman Carl Nassib beme the league’s first openly gay active player when he ma his announcement 2021 while playg for the Las Vegas Rairs. San Francis 49ers assistant Katie Sowers was the first woman and openly gay ach a Super Bowl 2020. As Lat mic blared si Pulse, one of Orlando’s biggt nightclubs on June 12, 2016, a gunman forced his way si and opened fire on the predomantly gay crowd.

50 AD, ISLAMIC TERRORISM TIE EYED ORLANDO GAY BAR SHOOTG

While Mateen’s fay said that he had shown anger towards two gay men kissg the week before the attack, evince disvered the years after the attack shows that this may have been a planned act of terrorism and may have had a different target—a Disney plex—before Mateen got spooked by had been terviewed by FBI officers twice 2013, after makg ments to workers about his nnectns to ISIS. 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. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Details ntue to emerge about the gunman's motiveA gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub Orlando, Florida, killg at least 49 people and jurg dozens before beg shot ad by police.

She told the FBI her hband said he was gog to see iends, though she thought he was gog to rry out an attack at the night club, officials have told the US are also media reports that she said she was wh him when he bought ammunn and a holster, and drove him to Pulse once to spe ptn, Jim Van Horn, Pulse nightclub ctomer: "He (Omar Mateen) was a homosexual and he was tryg to pick up men"Mateen appears to have been a regular at the club and he ntacted men on gay datg apps, raisg the possibily that he was nflicted about beg gay and lashed out.

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

As hundreds gathered early Sunday at a popular gay nightclub Orlando, Florida, police say a gunman opened fire – leavg at least 49 people ad and jurg at least 53 more, what is now the adlit mass shootg Amerin history. Lol time at Pulse, a popular gay club south of downtown Orlando found as a place of “acceptance and love.

RELATED VIDEO: Print Of GLAAD Sarah Kate Ellis Vows That Gay Pri Month will Go on Dpe Tragedy.

ORLANDO GUNMAN ATTACKS GAY NIGHTCLUB, LEAVG 50 DEAD

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.