Pulse nightclub victims remembered on 7th anniversary of massacre at Orlando gay club - CBS Miami

Contents:

• ORLANDO GUNMAN ATTACKS GAY NIGHTCLUB, LEAVG 50 DEAD
• WHAT MEANS TO REMEMBER THE PULSE SHOOTG THE ERA OF ‘DON’T SAY GAY’
• PULSE NIGHTCLUB VICTIMS REMEMBERED ON 7TH ANNIVERSARY OF MASSACRE AT ORLANDO GAY CLUB
• MAN WHO SAYS HE WAS OMAR MATEEN'S GAY LOVER SPEAKS OUT
• ‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS
• THE GAY BAR AS SAFE SPACE HAS BEEN SHATTERED

ORLANDO GUNMAN ATTACKS GAY NIGHTCLUB, LEAVG 50 DEAD

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. — A man who lled 911 to proclaim allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group, and who had been vtigated the past for possible terrorist ti, stormed a gay nightclub here Sunday morng, wieldg an asslt rifle and a pistol, and rried out the worst mass shootg Uned Stat history, leavg 50 people ad and 53 attacker, intified by law enforcement officials as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old who was born New York, turned what had been a celebratory night of dancg to salsa and merengue mic at the crowd Pulse nightclub to a panicked scene of unimagable slghter, the floors slicked wh blood, the ad and the jured piled atop one another. 11, 2001, and the adlit attack on a gay target the natn’s history, though officials said was not clear whether some victims had been accintally shot by law enforcement toll of 50 ad is larger than the number of murrs Orlando over the prev three years.

Ebenhack/Associated PrsFears of vlence led to heightened secury at lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr events and gatherg plac around the untry. Law enforcement officials Santa Moni, Calif., nfirmed the arrt on Sunday of a heavily armed man who said he was the area for Wt Hollywood’s gay pri para.

Mateen had talked often about killg people and had voiced hatred of gays, blacks, women and the time of the massacre, Mr. A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 1 of the New York edn wh the headle: Praisg Isis, Gunman Attacks Gay Nightclub, Leavg 50 Dead Worst Shootg on U. ORLANDO, FL - JUNE 13: Law enforcement officials vtigate at the Pulse gay nightclub where Omar Mateen allegedly killed at least 50 people on June 13, 2016 Orlando, Florida.

WHAT MEANS TO REMEMBER THE PULSE SHOOTG THE ERA OF ‘DON’T SAY GAY’

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.

”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? 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.

PULSE NIGHTCLUB VICTIMS REMEMBERED ON 7TH ANNIVERSARY OF MASSACRE AT ORLANDO GAY CLUB

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. 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. Christopher was among the 49 people gunned down at Orlando gay nightclub Pulse on June 12, 2016.

“Florida is erasg gay history, ” Christe Leonen said reference to the ‘Don’t Say Gay bill’. The Parental Rights Edutn Bill, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by opponents, is a vaguely word piece of legislatn that aims to lim discsn of genr and sexualy schools. Larks is gay and nonbary and jt fished their junr year of high school Orlando.

MAN WHO SAYS HE WAS OMAR MATEEN'S GAY LOVER SPEAKS OUT

A few weeks before the anniversary and a few om Pulse, Larks went ont of the Orange County Public Schools board meetg and asked that the board ensure that queer youth have books that reflect them light of the “Don’t Say Gay” law and the rise of book bans. Larks has been acced of beg a “groomer, ” the phemism for the trope of gay pedophile weoponized agast LGBTQ+ people the 1970s and, more recently, agast people who are prottg agast bills like “Don’t Say Gay. Jen Cos, a parent the district, was wh Larks and other queer youth the statehoe when “Don’t Say Gay” passed.

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

LGBTQ+ advot worry that when school rum this fall, the “Don’t Say Gay” law will mean kids whout supportive parents will lose a safe space they have to be openly queer, where they n hear nam and pronouns that match who they are.

Christopher had fought for equaly om the time he was a teen, startg the first Gay-Straight Alliance at Semole High School 2 ½ hours southwt of Orlando. Today, he hears his elected officials refer to gay people as “groomers. She remembers Christopher, the boy who never had a vy his life, who — even as she feared he would be harmed for beg openly gay — prsed upon his mother the importance of embracg his whole self everywhere.

The most mon phrase, wrten over and over on the wall: “We Say Gay. ORLANDO (AP) -- 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-wi mural, the rgg of church bells and an overnight vigil at the se of the Pulse club on Monday, the seventh anniversary of the tragedy.

THE GAY BAR AS SAFE SPACE HAS BEEN SHATTERED

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. On 12 June 2016, Pulse - one of the biggt and most popular gay clubs Orlando - was the early morng hours of a Lat-themed event when a gunman opened fire. ORLANDO -- A man who says he was Orlando shooter Omar Mateen's gay lover is speakg out followg the attack on Pulse nightclub that left 49 people ad, and dozens more an terview wh Univisn anchor Maria Elena Salas, the man -- who was lled "Miguel" to protect his inty -- said he first met Mateen on the gay datg app Grdr.

Miguel said an terview wh Univisn that Mateen, who was killed by police durg the rampage on the Pulse nightclub early on June 12, was gay. "He hate gay Puerto Rins for all the stuff he did to him, " Miguel said.