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LGBT News Mass Shooting at Orlando Gay Nightclub

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by OnTheHighway, Jun 12, 2016.

  1. kibou97

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    It shows that the killer was even more unstable than we thought before and raises a few questions.
     
    #241 kibou97, Jun 13, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2016
  2. YeahpIdk

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    I'm going to start a new thread.
     
  3. peterw78165

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    I'm not gonna get involved in the religious/political debate here; I'm just gonna express my sadness over this tragedy. I cried for about 2 hours straight when I heard the news. It was about midnight where I live, and I engaged in some insomnia-induced news checking. I never did fall back asleep, I was so sad. It truly disgusts me that hatred like this exists. Unfortunately, the town I live in is sort of a right-wing bubble compared to the rest of the Portland metro area, so I have heard quite a bit of somewhat homophobic stuff around town regarding this whole situation. One of my neighbors flat out said, "This is an unfortunate event, but I still think that they were sinners for being gay." Yeah, that just negated any shards of LGBT tolerance there, bub.
     
  4. Falklands Sheep

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    Hey, guys.

    I just had to come back and see how things were going over here. I heard of the attack last night, and I couldn't help but feel not only sad and enraged, but worried for you all. Granted, I never was very active in the forum, or talked to many people here, but still.

    I'm really glad you're all okay.
     
    #244 Falklands Sheep, Jun 13, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2016
  5. What chills me the most is the post they uploaded... "Everyone get out of pulse and keep running" :icon_sad:
     
  6. OGS

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    So hard today. So very, very sad. Last night I spent a while looking at pictures from Pulse online, not crime scene photos but photos from before. And it occurred to me that while I don't go out to the clubs as much as I used to, I still do. I could have been there. My husband could have been there. So very many people I know could have been there.

    And as I looked through the pictures I remember the first time I went to a club like Pulse. It was here in Chicago. I remember I walked in and it was like I had finally found my people. I'd found a place where I wasn't alone--a place I didn't have to be afraid. I somehow knew intuitively that it would finally all be alright. And it was. After so many years of feeling so alone, so afraid that people would find out and that that they wouldn't love me any more when they did. After so long feeling like people who didn't even know me hated me, I finally found this place. I found my people.

    After all that, walking into that club made me feel like it would finally be alright. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be worth it--it might even be amazing. I met so many wonderful people who became amazing friends. Years later I would meet my husband in that same club. It was a place that I didn't have to be afraid.

    And that's where all this went down. Not in my place but in a place just like it. Fifty people, fifty of ours, lost their lives this weekend in one of those places that we have built, one of those places we build so that we don't have to be afraid EVERYWHERE. And it hurts in a way and in a place I had mercifully almost forgotten. I think about all the people from my community who are just now starting to feel like it might be alright--that maybe they don't have to be afraid everywhere. I think about all those people who haven't had twenty years with the notion to thicken the skin and the lesson seems pretty clear: even in those places you have to be afraid. The hatred follows us and it can find us in our own homes and communities. And that breaks my heart.

    Hate kills. It kills everywhere, in ways large and small. It's why young gay people are four times as likely to attempt suicide as their straight peers. Even when it doesn't take away the last breath directly it slows the heart and takes the brightness out of young people's eyes everyday, everywhere. And then sometimes it explodes. That someone would come into THAT PLACE and do this thing is monstrous to me. Monstrous with a full stop. I've heard far too much "monstrous, but..." today. Any "but..." you may feel the need to add to that statement, whether it's that they shouldn't flaunt it or want to get married like normal people or should just keep it to their selves, just adds to the fire. It tells people that certain people should be afraid, that certain people should be made afraid.

    So much sadness...
     
  7. Kellian

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    Both. It's a crime against freedom and the LGBT.
     
  8. Zen fix

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    Went to a vigil this evening at a local church. It was standing room only. I couldn't stay long. I just felt weird. Just very sad. Also disgusted with the rush to name this a Muslim crime.I think the Christian right is eager to not have their hatred equated to this.
     
  9. tyro

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  10. midwestgirl89

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    I know several friends who lost someone they cared about. I also know someone who is friends with one of the injured. The injured person lost 2 loved ones in the club. I am a former Disney Cast Member so I feel pain also for the Disney CMs that died. This situation is awful as everyone has said.

    I can't sleep or concentrate on anything except for this. I've been to Pulse, the exact club where this tragedy occurred, several times. I know the bathroom, the hip-hop room, the dance floor, the entrance, the bar, the dance floor, the benches. I sat on the same benches that some of these people were slaughtered on. People died in all of these places. It upsets me more than I can really know how to explain to think of that and to know my friends lost people they love. And to think about the loved ones/family members of those lost.....how awful. And the people who died no longer have a future which isn't fair at all. Also the LGBT community is mourning as a whole of course which is painful for us all. And the Latinx community is mourning, I have them in my heart as well. :tears:
     
    #250 midwestgirl89, Jun 13, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 13, 2016
  11. derVaminoi

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    ...Why? It wasn't Christian hate that fuelled this, why do some people want to switch the focus to that? He didn't declare his allegiance to the Westboro Baptist Church (though they've been celebrating..). Heck, the shooter's dad, while shocked that his son went out and killed people, still thinks God/Allah will judge us. What makes it good to point out Christian intolerance, but ignore Islamic? Apart from the smaller chance of being jumped irl by an offended extremist.
     
  12. alexandr

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    To be fair, they aren't saying that Muslim intolerance should be ignored.
     
  13. bookreader

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    Does anyone regularly check the victims list besides me?
     
  14. Jackie13

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    I've only recently joined the EC community since I've been questioning my sexuality. I first saw the notice about the Orlando shooting on here and quickly picked up my phone to check the news. I felt stunned and sick to my stomach....That anyone could do that out of hate??? My heart aches for all the victims and their families....
     
  15. kibou97

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    You know what'd be fantastic? Stop making stupid generalizations because of this. Of course there's going to be horrible people speaking all kinds of languages and coming from all kinds of places with all kinds of backgrounds, but that doesn't mean a whole group should be condemned for it. I don't get along with religious people normally, I become incredibly confused by some of their beliefs and wonder how they can believe it. despite that, I refuse to act like all people from a given background are evil and refuse to make generalizations about them. Surely this community would know better than most communities how harmful and horrible generalizations can be.
     
  16. OnTheHighway

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    If media reports are true, he had a profile on an app and was regularly visiting the club.......
     
  17. midwestgirl89

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    tbh I agree that a lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon of "Muslims are bad!" which is totally not ok but I don't have enough room in me to debate about politics right now. This tragedy is too upsetting and fresh.

    Does anyone else feel an incredible amount of grief? I slept 2 hours in the past 39 hours. BTW Is this the right place to talk about emotional support for those grieving or is the other thread more for that? @people in charge of the threads
     
  18. Akane

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    Honestly. I am still in a bit of a shock. But I have had a lump in my throat for a few hours now. I think it is finally starting to settle in.

    I was talking to my friend the other day, just a couple days before the mass murder, saying I think we might have an uprising or Civil War on our hands soon...with these absurd "bathroom laws" and a few threatened the state legislature of Oklahoma, my home state, I was terrified. Now this??? I am now too scared to go out to the Pride events in OKC this year. Forget it. Too much of a wuss I guess. I just cannot do it this year. Perhaps next year.
     
  19. blaziken25

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    I am from New Zealand and I can say that this horrible event effects everyone in the LGBT community. We are all with you Orlando (&&&) (&&&) (&&&)
     
  20. greatwhale

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