CW: We want to make the space to reflect on violence in the LGBTQ+ community. If you’d rather not read on, we understand. Take care of yourself.

If we haven’t met yet, my name is Gaby Salazar. I’m a proud Latinx lesbian, a native South Floridian, and Deputy Organizing Director of March For Our Lives. My hometown is not far from Marjory Stoneman Douglas. It’s also not far from Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

I’m writing to you because five years ago tomorrow, our community was under attack. I use that word because that’s the way it felt. More than 200 rounds were fired into an LGBTQ+ club that was a safe haven for the community, especially during Pride month.

Nearly all of the 49 victims were members of the LGBTQ+ community, and the majority of them were also Latinx.

Gun violence is an LGBTQ+ issue. It is a racial justice issue. It is an intersectional issue rooted in armed supremacy and political corruption. Black and brown trans or gender nonconforming people are still being targeted, harmed and killed at alarming rates. So many of these instances of violence often go unreported, too.

The fact that Pride month even exists -- and is celebrated so widely by community members and allies alike -- shows how far we’ve come, and I’m thankful for that. But the work is far from over. Until structural injustices and violence against all facets of the LGBTQ+ community are addressed, we will not know Pride in the truest sense.

It’s easy to get discouraged, but remember that this fight has been going on for decades. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Let’s look to activists like Sylvia Rivera, and Marsha P. Johnson, for motivation to keep up the fight.

In solidarity,
Gaby Salazar
Deputy Organizing Director
March For Our Lives 

P.S. A lot of the work that local organizers and LGBTQ+ activists have accomplished so far is because of grassroots supporters. All donations from this email will be split with The Okra Project -- could you donate $20.00 today to help end gun violence targeted at the LGBTQ+ community?