Tag Archives: Pulse Massacre

USA Today reports: President Joe Biden has signed a law designating the Pulse nightclub in Orlando as a national memorial. Survivors of the 2016 shooting and the victims’ family members attended the signing ceremony at the White House. “May no president ever have to sign another monument like this,” Biden said as he signed the law as survivors stood around …

Via press release from the White House: Five years ago today in Orlando in the middle of Pride Month, our nation suffered the deadliest attack affecting the LGBTQ+ community in American history, and at the time, the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman. Within minutes, the Pulse nightclub that had long been a place of acceptance and joy turned …

Just in via press release: 5 years ago, 49 LGBTQ people, largely Black and Latinx, were killed in the deadliest attack on LGBTQ people in American history. The shooting is also the second-deadliest mass shooting in American history. In response, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, DNC Secretary Jason Rae and DNC LGBTQ Caucus Chair Earl Fowlkes released the following statement: “Five …

Gentle readers, on today’s fifth anniversary of the Pulse massacre, I’m rerunning my account of that day. The story below originally ran on Pride Life’s website on July 12th 2016 and makes its second appearance on JMG today. Their Phones Kept Ringing One month ago today, Sunday June 12th, around 8AM I began my day, as usual, by examining my …

From Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer: In the years since the tragedy, we have worked to increase the visibility of Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community and celebrate our city’s diversity during annual events like Come Out With Pride and on murals throughout the city. We proudly fly the Pride flag at City Hall and at soccer games. Businesses now display stickers provided by …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Days before the fifth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, U.S. Senators passed a bill designating the site of the former nightclub as a national memorial. The legislation passed unanimously Wednesday afternoon after its sponsor, Sen. Rick Scott, asked that it and its companion bills be approved by unanimous consent in observance of the five years …

From the Democratic National Committee: Four years ago today, 49 people were murdered in the single deadliest attack on the LGBTQ+ and Latinx communities in U.S. history. What should have been a night of celebration was overtaken by hatred and bigotry. We will not let that hatred and bigotry prevent us from celebrating the lives of those we lost at …

Orlando’s ABC affiliate reports: A Clermont church is planning a “Make America Straight Again” conference just days after the three-year mark of the Pulse nightclub shooting. In preparation for the event, church leaders have reached out to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and asked if they could hire deputies to work security for the conference. The Sheriff’s Office later declined …

The Washington Post reports: Rick Scott, when he was Florida’s governor, made the proclamation a year ago to mark the anniversary of the massacre at the Pulse nightclub two years before. A gunman killed 49 people at the LGBTQ-oriented club in 2016, what was then the largest mass shooting in U.S. history, and Scott, now a Republican senator, noted that …

Gentle readers, on today’s third anniversary of the Pulse massacre, I’m rerunning my account of that day. The story below originally ran on Pride Life’s website on July 12th 2016 and makes its first appearance on JMG today. Their Phones Kept Ringing One month ago today, Sunday June 12th, around 8AM I began my day, as usual, by examining my …

CNN reports: In the days ahead of the third anniversary of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida lawmakers have proposed plans to designate the nightclub a national memorial. U.S. Reps. Darren Soto and Stephanie Murphy, both from Central Florida, announced their plan to declare Pulse a federal landmark at a service in front of the temporary memorial …

Curbed New York reports: Nearly a year after it was first announced, New York City’s first official memorial dedicated to the LGBTQ community is set to debut in Hudson River Park. Governor Andrew Cuomo, along with City Council speaker Corey Johnson, Senator Brad Hoylman, and other elected officials, unveiled the monument, two years in the making, which is intended to …

Just in from DNC chairman Tom Perez: “Two years ago, our nation witnessed one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history. It was an attack on the LGBTQ community, the Latinx community, and LGBTQ people of color everywhere. It was an attack on the American people and the values of diversity and equality that all of us should cherish. …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: An emotional, rain-soaked rally on the eve of the Pulse anniversary Monday evening was mixed with anguish and raw anger over the lack of progress on gun reform and gay rights in Florida and the sheer number of mass shootings that have happened since. “Six hundred and twelve days,” said Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: The onePULSE Foundation is unveiling the Orlando nightclub’s “interim” memorial today, designed to be a temporary tribute to the victims and survivors of the 2016 mass shooting. During a dedication ceremony this morning, Pulse nightclub owner and onePULSE Foundation founder Barbara Poma thanked local companies that contributed to the project. She also praised the survivors and …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Noor Salman is not guilty of helping her husband, Omar Mateen, carry out the mass shooting that claimed 49 lives at Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016, a jury decided Friday. The 12-member jury delivered its verdict after deliberating for about 12 hours over three days. Salman was also acquitted of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors accused …

CNN reports: Attorneys for Noor Salman called for a dismissal of charges or a mistrial, saying that new details from prosecutors reveal that Pulse gunman Omar Mateen’s father was an FBI informant who is currently under a criminal investigation. According to a motion filed by the defense, Assistant US Attorney Sara Sweeney sent an email on Saturday to the defense …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Survivors of the mass shootings at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub and a South Florida high school embraced Wednesday outside the club where 49 people were killed nearly two years ago. “We’re all family,” said Neema Bahrami, who was an event manager at Pulse at the time of the attack. Pulse survivors, wearing shirts that read “We Will …

USA Today reports: A handwritten statement given to the FBI by the wife of Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen says she saw him prepare for the deadly attack for months and knew that the LGBT nightclub was his target. The 12-page statement, quietly released by federal authorities at the end of December in a batch of records in the case, …

USA Today reports: The widow of Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen will stand trial in Orlando, home to the nation’s second deadliest mass shooting in modern history, after a federal judge ruled staying in the city wouldn’t prevent a fair trial. Lawyers for Noor Salman had fought to move the case outside the city, arguing intense media coverage of the …