Pulse Massacre

Veteran music journalist Barry Walters has penned an excellent take on why our nightclubs have always been a refuge for the LGBT community. From Billboard Magazine: Since Stonewall and well before, gay clubs have been our schools, our places of worship. Nightclubs are where we’ve long learned to unlearn hate, and learn to become and love our real selves. They’re …

Via press release: London’s LGBTI community will join hands in a tribute for the victims of the Orlando shootings tomorrow (Monday 13 June). At least 50 people were killed and 53 injured in the shootings in the early hours of Sunday morning in gay nightclub Pulse. Venues along London’s Old Compton Street, at the heart of London’s gay village, will …

While some right wing outlets and commentators are discounting or ignoring the identities of the victims in Orlando, the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press gets right to the heart of it. They write: Let’s start here: The Pulse nightclub shootings — the largest mass murder in American history, claiming at least 50 lives — were an act of …

From the New York Daily News: His killing machine of choice was a mass murderer’s best friend — and his enabler a gun lobby that has long opposed efforts to keep assault weapons out of the hands of bloodthirsty maniacs. The madman who killed at least 50 people and wounded 53 others at an Orlando club early Sunday was armed …

At the request of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the spire of the nation’s tallest building is illuminated in rainbow colors tonight in solidarity with Orlando’s LGBT community. In midtown stands an even more unusual sight: the Empire State Building has gone completely dark in mourning.

With only a few hours notice, a massive crowd of New Yorkers jammed tiny Sheridan Square in Manhattan’s West Village late this afternoon to express anger and heartbreak over last night’s massacre in Orlando. As a steady stream of mourners arrived to lay flowers outside the iconic Stonewall Inn, veteran activists including Ann Northrop and Ken Kidd clambered onto a …

Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin, National Center for Transgender Equality head Mara Keisling, and NAACP president Cornell Brooks this afternoon gave a nationally broadcast statement on the massacre in Orlando. Watch below. This is LGBT history. This is American history.

The Hill reports: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility Sunday for a deadly nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., that left 50 dead and 53 injured. “The attack that targeted a nightclub for homosexuals in Orlando, Florida and that left more than 100 dead and wounded was carried out by an Islamic State fighter,” ISIS said in …

Via press release from US Attorney General Loretta Lynch: “I have been briefed by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and FBI Director James Comey on the horrific terrorist attack in Orlando and will continue to receive updates on the situation. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families during this very difficult time. The Department of Justice, including the …

Via White House press release: As a mark of respect for the victims of the act of hatred and terror perpetrated on Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of …

President Obama will be at the podium in the White House briefing room at 1:30PM Eastern to speak about the massacre in Orlando. Watch below.

CNN reports: Omar Saddiqui Mateen was the gunman who opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, killing at least 50 people, two law enforcement officials told CNN. The 29-year-old suspect was known to the FBI, the officials said — one of hundreds of people on the agency’s radar suspected of being ISIS sympathizers, according to two law enforcement officials. …