I remember waking up on June 12. It was a lazy Sunday morning in bed with nothing to do until Ribbon of Life that afternoon. I grabbed the phone off the bedside table and started scrolling through Facebook updates. “Great. Another shooting,” I thought to myself as the blurred headlines started to scroll by.
But as my eyes came into focus and the stories kept updating, the magnitude of what had happened just a few hours ago started to settle in. The body count kept climbing with each news update.
That afternoon in Las Vegas, hundreds of the local LGBTQ community, along with many allies, converged for the 30th Ribbon of Life, an annual fundraiser for Golden Rainbow, an organization that provides housing assistance for HIV/AIDS patients.
As the community came together, Orlando was on everyone’s mind, along with a silent unspoken fear that we were assembling in a confined space–a corralled target for anyone wanting to bestow hate and ammunition on us.
We would come to find out later that a man in Los Angeles was apprehended on his way to LA Pride.
Las Vegas Metro police officers were standing outside the theater entrance, a sight that offered some comfort. That afternoon and evening, officers had a visible presence at The Center’s vigil and at several gay bars around town.
As days passed, stories of the victims came to light. Communities all over the country held prayer vigils and fundraisers.
President Obama and Vice President Biden visited Orlando that week to pay respect to the victims and their families.
In our weekly phone call with other LGBTQ publications around the country, we were informed by Hot Spots Magazine’s (the LGBTQ publication serving Southern Florida) publisher Peter Clark, that the LGBTQ community center in Orlando was in desperate need of additional support, having run out of funds earlier in the year during a remodel that was abandoned by a contractor. Already overwhelmed, the community center anticipates long term needs to support the community.
Pulse Nightclub has established two funds, one to support the needs of victims families and one to assist employees with lost wages as a result of the club closing. Pulse has not stated if or when they will re-open.
In the wake of the tragedy in Orlando, the worst mass shooting in the US, Human Rights Campaign has stepped forward to endorse gun violence prevention measures.
As we considered how QVegas would respond, we looked to social media and saw anger, fear, sadness, and defiance as common threads. Our response was simple... dedicate this issue to Orlando from the voices of our community.
Though we have made great strides in equality, those strides are still not enough. Our lawmakers are not doing enough.
We asked friends, allies, and readers to share their voices.
What follows are the voices of a community that have had enough. Enough hate. Enough violence. Enough discrimination.
Enough.
