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Pulse Nightclub Shootings: Six Months Later
Monday, Dec. 12 was the six-month anniversary of the Pulse nightclub attacks, where 49 people were killed and at least 68 were injured; 37 of those injured were hospitalized. It was a horrific event, shocking all of us who live in the surrounding areas. The Orlando Sentinel covered the story for several months, often printing the story several times a week with the latest information. The outpouring of sympathy and condolences continued during that time regarding the loss of life, to the surviving victims, and to the families and friends who were left behind. A fund of $2.9 million was raised for the families of victims and for those who survived.
As time went on, we only glanced at articles in the Sentinel. I became aware that there seemed to be underlying reasons for the ongoing publicity of the shootings. The fact that it was a gay club was continually highlighted. Especially over the last few weeks, I have questioned the sincerity and genuine desire to help, as the City of Orlando, Orlando Police Department, the larger community and others felt compelled to demonstrate their support, not only to victims and their families, but to the LBGT community in general.
About a month after the Pulse shooting, the Orlando Police Department unveiled a police vehicle bearing the names of the victims and photos of a vigil to honor them. Lt. James “Jim” Young, a 19-year department veteran and former agency spokesman, is lead liaison to the LGBT community and drives the SUV.
I wondered if Orlando was trying to emulate the observances of those who died in the Twin Towers; the City offered to purchase the Pulse nightclub for $2.25 million and make a memorial out of it; I assume they meant to use tax dollars for the purchase. Eventually the owner, Barbara Poma, chose not to sell the Pulse , saying she “ . . . plans to use the space to create a ‘sanctuary of hope’ and a welcoming area where people can reflect on those affected by the tragedy.”
A lot of money was on the line for the victim’s families and survivors.
The exact amounts to survivors was still being tweaked late Monday as fund administrator Ken Feinberg worked with the FBI and local hospitals to confirm claims. Officials will begin transferring the money electronically on Tuesday and said all of it would be distributed by the end of the week. But Feinberg said that more than half of the families of the 49 victims are still arguing over who deserves the money.
“The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild collected and created commemorative quilts made to honor the Pulse shooting victims and distributed them to first responders at the Orlando Police Department.
We are already involved in a Battle Royale between completing claimants who want the money — biological parents vs. same-sex partners, divorced spouses demanding they get the money to the exclusion of the other spouse, siblings of the dead coming in claiming that a parent was absent … or never had anything to do with the victim,” he said. Now that the money is being distributed, Feinberg said he hoped families would want to resolve the disputes quickly.
The last event that disturbed me most occurred as part of the six-month anniversary memorial:
The Orlando Police Department will issue a new rainbow decal in the shape of a badge for offices, stores and organizations that want to participate.
“This location is a SAFE PLACE for victims of anti-LGBTQ crimes and harassment to call 911 and wait for police to arrive,” it says.
The city has printed 500 of the 5-by-7-inch decals, and already, most city buildings have been outfitted with them, said police spokeswoman Michelle Guido.
Orlando businesses and organizations are encouraged to take part and place decals on windows near their main entrances.
Store owners may put up the decals for any number of reasons: they may want to show solidarity with the LGBT community; they may genuinely think they are offering safety to potential victims; or they may feel the need to act in a politically correct fashion: it’s good business. My main reason for having a strong, visceral reaction to this venture is that we are telling the LGBT community that they are victims, particularly in danger, and I believe that premise is an ugly, unnecessary and inappropriate message to send. It’s like saying that we have air raid shelters ready just for them, the next time only they are attacked.
I have to add that at the memorial on Monday, there were 49 adults dressed in angel costumes to honor those who had died. Angel costumes.
I also wonder: would the outreach have been so dramatic if the victims had been straight? Did people in the community believe we owe a large debt to the LGBT community for the difficulties they’ve had to endure as gay people? Were the efforts over the last six months about reaching out as human beings to other human beings, or to people who have already suffered as part of the LGBT community? And does it matter?
Published in Culture
I am writing this from Orlando.
You are certainly not alone in suspecting that the fact that The Pulse was a gathering place for the LGBT community played a significant role in the public reaction.
Personally (I have no LGBT tendencies) I feel that there is no doubt that political correctness contributed to the way the general public reacted.
Having said that, and since this element is obviously unquantifiable, I don’t really consider it relevant. This was a true tragedy. Whether it was an anti-LGBT act, an act inspired by ISIS, or a personal grievance which had horrifying results, the victims are dead, the killer too, and the rest of us can try to explain away this atrocity in whatever way we choose.
There is no reason to believe that this tragedy could have been prevented, or that there is any defense against future horrors.
Hope this doesn’t sound too negative.
Not at all fidelio. My point is the political correctness and the message that we are giving to the LGBT community. When we use these terrible incidents to meet an agenda, and also tell those targeted that they have reasons to be afraid in their own community, that they will need places to duck into to save their lives, that is over-the-top political correctness. I think these terrible losses can be handled with more grace and care, not reinforcing that terrorists are lingering around every corner, or trying to tell the world how enlightened you are.
I wonder if the excessive emphasis on the LGBT part has something to do with the unwillingness to name the Islamic part?
Now that is very interesting, Kate. I had the impression from articles, once Omar Mateen was identified clearly, that there was not much focus on the terrorist part after a couple of months. But once they knew who he was, I don’t know if people then turned a brighter spotlight on the LGBT community. It just seemed so disingenuous and over the top. I don’t think the authorities realized that they were suggesting not only to that gay community, but telling the larger community that gay folks were at greater risk than the rest of us. That certainly doesn’t make a positive statement about the larger community.
They are at greater risk… from Muslim terrorists. The bombing was shocking here. It wouldn’t be shocking if the gay club was in a Muslim-majority country, where killing openly gay people is a matter of course. But the Left would rather perpetuate a fantasy of Christian bigotry.
It’s simply Democrat politics as usual. They beat upon people who do care about justice for all because slander is more effective than honest and charitable debate. So long as the Left can maintain the illusion that gays are abused underdogs, they can bully people into sympathy and use the issue to pry voters from the GOP.
Interesting points, Aaron. It hasn’t been clear who they need protection from–I assumed they meant disturbed Muslims–silly me–but I’m sure Christians, white supremacists, the alt-right are all potential aggressors. I’m getting pretty sick of it. I think we all need to speak out and step in when we see these groups all lumped together and condemned.
The early reporting was about anti-gay sentiments causing Omar Mateen to shoot up the club.
From my ear here in Orlando, I hadn’t heard much by way of disproving that. I know it was a terror attack. I know it could have been anywhere and that Pulse was an easy target. I feel for the victims, but I wish we could mourn them as fellow citizens and not as LGBT victims of anti-gay sentiment.
Yes, the special emphasis on LGBT does matter. The effect of it isn’t unifying. The people shot by an Islamic terrorist at that Christmas party in, I think, California weren’t necessarily lesbian or gay. We’re all equally kafir in a diversity of ways, as far as the terrorists are concerned.
This is correct, Ansonia! I wish the Left could see that pointing out differences and creating victims doesn’t bring society together. It pushes us apart, makes us suspicious of each other, and makes us afraid–at least some of us. Thank you.
I should have written “The effect of it discourages us from becoming united.”
Leaders on the left do see that emphasizing the irrelevant differences, and creating victims, pushes us apart. For the purpose of maintaining their own power and influence, pushing us apart is, as usual, what they want to do. They don’t imagine they might be putting themselves in danger by doing what amounts to keeping people from uniting against militant fundamentalist Islam because—David French is right about this—the real nature and extent of that danger is something people don’t get when they “don’t get” religion.
Thank you, Susan.
Thank you Susan – I had no idea of the extent of what has taken place since the tragedy. I caught the story on the evening news the other night and questioned why in the world they would play newly released footage of the terror suspect, to relive the event? That just gives Islamic thugs more to cheer about.
This is clearly over the top political, regarding the gay element to this awful event and you stated why. Christians, Jews, clergy and western civilization in general have been and are targets of Muslim terror extremism – are we all victims and need a safe space? The “payout” is also odd – is that customary? Sounds like when money is involved, even a sad tragedy turns into another battle. The intention was good – maybe just set up a fund where survivors could get financial relief for funeral and other expenses. Law enforcement and the City of Orlando were not at fault – the fault lies with Muslim extremists and the stickers, and other outreach methods should come from the Muslim communities.
Thanks for saying this, FSC. I began to feel a bit paranoid. I wondered if some folks might see me as anti-gay, which I’m not. But the costs of politicizing hurts everyone. We are all targets.
Yes. We are all targets.
I guess I’m inadequately sentimental, but I’m not crazy about turning massacre sites into shrines or memorials. My preference would be that the physical damage be repaired and then they go back to business as usual, whether the site was a post office, a McDonalds, a public school, or a gay nightclub. Perhaps there would be a little less copy-cat killing if the wannabe killers didn’t envision grand historical markers commemorating their atrocities.
That’s my suspicion as well. Like it or not, attacks on LGBT’s will only grow in the future if we hide our heads in the sand over the outright outrageous bigotry of radical Islamists. It almost seems as if there is a desire to paint, with a broad brush, this bigotry onto traditional family valued people rather than where it belongs.
Big difference between target and victim and they were clearly playing up the victim side, as Susan highlighted.. I will not be a victim to these evil thugs.
I hadn’t even thought of that! When we put the site back the way it was, we state our resolve to go on as life should be; we can never really replace it, but we are saying that WE will determine the way we move forward, keeping the loss of life in our hearts and memories. We could possibly put up a small plaque, but that’s it.
As I’ve been saying throughout this OP, Mountie, you all are filling in ways of understanding what is happening in ways I hadn’t even realized. Thank you for elaborating on Kate’s comment.
No.
I imagine it is a mix. Some feel this way. Others feel a pressure to “virtue signal” because of the cultural/economic power that identity politics plays in America today.
As humans we suffer in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons and causes. Because the targeting was tied to a sexual identity aspect of their humanity it is likely impossible to distinguish between to the two motivations.
No. If you compare the Haiti earthquake response with earthquakes in Iran and Nepal, all of them generated an outpouring of American support. Haiti got the most attention and probably aid due to its proximity to our shores more than the identity of its people. Proximity and access permitted a fuller and immediate reporting on it, including (importantly) video. The pathetic history of Haiti and centuries of exploitation by others (including, post-earthquake, the Clinton Foundation) was not the prime motivation for support — it was the images of humans who had little and now had even less.
The outpouring of funds to victims didn’t surprise me, although the amount of money did. I was focusing more on all the other things that were done–I liked your comment about “virtue signaling”–and I think that was certainly a part of the other things that were done. Thanks, Rodin.
Re # 17
If we put the site back the way it was, we’d be acting like this is war and we’re determined to win it.
Ayan Hirsi Ali has said that of all the homophobia in the world, Islamic homophobia is the worst because it kills people. (She uses the word homophobia to mean anti-gay animus) gays and Jews are sought out by Islamists. I wouldn’t mind adding extra solidarity behind the LGBT community if we could also make a stand against the worldwide ideology that wants to kill them and almost every other minority.
I find it unbelievable that so many influential (and therefore presumably enlightened) opinion-formers do not understand that encouraging minority groups (not only LGBT) to assume that being threatened is a ‘default setting’ is just going to make it harder for them.
I’ve never been a minority but I’ve dated girls before. The girls who assume that you will do everything wrong seem to be much more unhappy than girls who don’t assume you will do everything wrong.