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, Four years ago today, a gunman entered the Pulse LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and committed one of the most devastating acts of hate we’ve seen in our nation. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others wounded in the attack on the LGBTQ and Latinx communities. We grieve for their families and friends. And, we are honoring them by showing solidarity with the LGBTQ and Latinx communities and continuing the fight against hate. The Pulse murders occurred during Pride Month in a nightclub that acted as a haven for LGBTQ people in Orlando to celebrate their whole selves. Anti-LGBTQ hate groups and some members of the radical right, in a sickening display of bigotry, praised the gunman after the attack. It’s clear that the LGBTQ community remains under threat — the 2019 SPLC Year in Hate and Extremism report showed a nearly 43% spike in anti-LGBTQ hate groups. The anti-LGBTQ hate groups that we list often couch their opposition to LGBTQ rights in rhetoric and harmful pseudoscience that demonizes LGBTQ people as threats to children, society and often public health. They have also fortified their influence over policy decisions and mainstream culture in recent years. LGBTQ hate even has a home in the halls of the White House: The Trump administration has welcomed members of these hate groups who have designed new, oppressive policies. What’s more, our country has seen a disturbing rise in institutional bias and threats to the LGBTQ community. People of color are especially at risk. Violence against transgender and gender nonconforming people of color is rising each year, and it’s on all of us to take a stand against hate. In remembrance of those who were killed at Pulse, we must commit, neighbor to neighbor, to standing up for each other’s human rights. That’s how we will continue to grow a national movement against anti-LGBTQ hate — and hate wherever it lives — in America. In solidarity, |
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