Pulse Massacre

The GALA Choruses Festival took place this weekend in Denver, where the hottest ticket was the performance by the Orlando Gay Chorus. Watch below as the they perform You’ll Never Walk Alone. Halfway through the song, conductor James Rode turned to the audience at the 2500-seat Ellie Caulkins Opera House and motioned for them to stand and join in. As …

MUST WATCH. Dancing cops, dancing horses, and even a dancing helicopter. Via ABC News: Weeks after three horrific tragedies hit the Orlando area, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department has found a way to keep the city’s spirits up. A video posted to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page begins with a mock press conference announcing an “important announcement by …

From the Chicago Tribune: A suburban Chicago gun shop has called off its controversial raffle of a semi-automatic rifle to raise money for the victims of the Orlando, Fla., mass shooting. The owners of Second Amendment Sports in McHenry said they canceled the raffle after questions were raised about the legality of the event. State law allows only nonprofit organizations …

JMG reader Gerard tips us to the below speech from legendary Irish activist Panti Bliss, who this week headlined ILGA-Europe’s Equality Gala in Brussels. Watch as Panti speaks stirringly about homophobia and the Orlando massacre. A key quote: “I’ve never been to Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, but that doesn’t matter because I know it like the back of my …

The Hill reports: A week after Democrats staged a nearly 26-hour sit-in demanding a vote on gun control measures, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the House will vote next week on legislation to block suspected terrorists from buying guns. In a conference call Thursday, Ryan told rank-and-file Republicans that the House will take up a terrorism package that will include …

From the Chicago Tribune: A suburban gun shop is conducting a raffle to benefit victims of the Orlando shooting massacre — and the prize is an AR-15 rifle. The semi-automatic weapon that Second Amendment Sports in McHenry plans to give away is similar to the gun used in the June 12 Orlando attack that killed 49 people and wounded dozens …

Via Politico: More than half of registered voters support stricter gun laws in the United States, according to the latest results of a nationwide Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday that also found strong levels of support for background checks and for preventing people on government watch lists from purchasing guns. Regardless of their opinions on specific proposals, 54 percent of …

Here’s the full letter as sent this afternoon by the Clinton campaign: We know their names. Stanley. Amanda. Oscar. Rodolfo. Antonio. Darryl. Angel. Juan. Luis. Cory. Tevin. Deonka. Simon. Leroy. Mercedez. Peter. Juan. Paul. Frank. Miguel. Javier. Jason. Eddie. Anthony. Drew. Alejandro. Brenda. Gilberto. Kimberly. Akyra. Luis. Geraldo. Eric. Joel. Jean. Enrique. Jean. Xavier. Christopher. Yilmary. Edward. Shane. Martin. Jonathan. …

You likely won’t see a line-up like this outside of the Oscars. Via press release: “The 49 heroes who lost their lives on June 12 were brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives. They were mostly young and mostly Latinx. But above all, they were human beings who were loved, and who …

Right Wing Watch has the transcript: “I look at this and I think, we have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms and the problem in Orlando at the Pulse was not a problem of the gun laws,” King said, criticizing efforts in Congress to bolster gun regulations after the shooting. “I mean, he followed all of them, the …

Michaelangelo Signorile has interviewed openly lesbian Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan for the Huffington Post. Sheehan is justifiably furious about GOP politicians who refuse to support gun control legislation in the wake of the Pulse massacre. “Marco Rubio, the senator from Florida, walked on our blood-stained streets with people from the Hispanic community,” Sheehan observed of Rubio, who has been …

From the Charlotte Observer: Did the victims of the Orlando gay nightclub shooting deserve to die? You’d think a candidate running for the North Carolina Senate would be among the last people to pose an incendiary question like that in a public forum. But Bob Diamond, a pharmacist and Mecklenburg GOP activist running for the District 37 seat held by …

Bustle reports: LGBT activists who want stricter gun laws seized the day at New York City’s Pride March on Sunday, staging a “die in” on 5th Avenue to draw attention to anti-gay gun violence. But the ‘Gays Against Guns’ Pride demonstration was much more than a one-time thing. It was work of an entirely new advocacy group, founded in the …

From openly gay New York City Councilman Corey Johnson: I’d like to announce that I have invited Gays Against Guns, a new grassroots LGBT organization formed in the wake of the June 12 Orlando massacre, to march with our contingent on Sunday in the NYC Pride March. Gays Against Guns will partner with existing gun-control and LGBT groups to leverage …

From the New York Daily News: The owner of Pulse, the Orlando nightclub where 49 people were shot and killed by a crazed gunman, will ride on the lead float in this year’s NYC Pride March. Also, in memory of all those lost in the June 12 massacre, their names will be read, followed by a moment of silence, a …

Remember the Florida assistant state attorney who was suspended last week after his Facebook post calling for Orlando to be “leveled” because it’s full of “ghetto thugs”? Yeah, he’s been shitcanned. ABC News reports: At the time of his suspension, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney’s Office, Angela Starke, said Lewis’ post violated its social media policy. The spokeswomen said …

From the Los Angeles Times: Since the shooting at an Orlando nightclub last week that left 49 people dead, reports have emerged that gunman Omar Mateen frequented the gay club, used gay dating apps and had gay lovers. But the FBI has found no evidence so far to support claims by those who say Mateen had gay lovers or communicated …

From the Guardian: A British gay men’s choir is to release a cover of Bridge Over Troubled Water for victims of the Orlando shooting. The London Gay Men’s Chorus (LGMC) will release its version of Simon & Garfunkel’s hit on Friday, with proceeds to be split equally between the Pulse Victims Fund, organised by Equality Florida, and Galop, a London-­based …

A coalition of 200 top-selling recording artists and entertainers have signed onto a letter calling on Congress to act on gun violence. From Billboard: As leading artists and executives in the music industry, we are adding our voices to the chorus of Americans demanding change. Music always has been celebrated communally, on dancefloors and at concert halls. But this life-affirming …

From USA Today: House Democrats ended their sit-in on the floor of the House after more than 24-hours of chants and speeches advocating for stricter gun control measures. Speaker Paul Ryan excoriated Democrats Thursday morning for disrupting the business of the House as the minority party’s sit-in to protest inaction on gun violence moved into its second day. Some Democrats …