#iamorlando

[loconinja]

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Don't forget to watch my full Interview over on @wearemitu's Youtube, Facebook & Twitter! 💜🦄 #mitu #loconinja #lgbt #pride #gayrapper #IamOrlando

[crying-gay-tears]

It’s p hard to fake a pic of your forearm idk. In pride amd solidarity. This is an inverted triangle from WWII. #ROYGBIV #IAmPulse #IAmOrlando #3 #tattoos

[powerpcboi]

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#PrayForOrlando #unitedforrights #unitedforlove #stopomphobia #lgbt #orlando #massiveattack #picoftheday #instaphoto #instavideo #venice #italy #jesuisOrlando #iamOrlando #remembrance #rememberthem (presso Venice, Italy)

[nprglobalhealth]

I Feel Like 'I Am Orlando' Though I Live Thousands Of Miles Away

On June 12, Orlando, Florida, was the site of the deadliest homophobic attack in recent history.

To call it by any other name would be to erase the reality and the identity of the people who died in Pulse nightclub that night.

These people — young, old, gay, lesbian, straight, transgender and bi — were doing what many probably did every weekend: go out for a dance and drink in a safe place, then head home to sleep off the hangover. This night, however, was the last night for 49 of them. They couldn't say, "See you in the morning." Their good night was silenced by the sound of a rifle that spewed hate and spilled their blood.

The pulse of Pulse nightclub stopped that night. But for me, as a black gay man who fled Nigeria for the United Kingdom because I was attacked for my sexuality, the news made my pulse pound harder. It brought me back to a time when I saw Orlando in my everyday life.

Read the full story here. 

[aphelion-necrology]

#Pulse

He was not a practicing Muslim and I really wish people would not just handwave that away as the reason for this. His family and friends say he was not religious. He was not observing Ramadan. He pledged last-minute alliances with factions that were enemies of each other. He was the equivalent of a douchey Italian-American guy claiming to be in the Mafia. He idolized cops, specifically the NYPD (well known for their racism and brutality), and tried to become an officer. He is as American as apple pie.

Most shooters are white, many are Christian or were raised as Christians, but you never see that mentioned on the news when they commit these atrocities. We're only quick to tack on a religion when it happens to be a non-Christian one, and man we will shoehorn that on as hard as possible. I'm bombarded with the hypocrisy of American Christians claiming that it was Islam that taught him to hate homosexuals, as if the Bible doesn't say the same thing, as if American religious leaders haven't called on their flock to shoot and kill trans people in bathrooms, as if they didn't openly celebrate the Pulse shooting, calling the victims perverts and pedophiles?

They do, in fact, act out against us in hate and violence DAILY. We are told we are sinners, child rapists, confused, insane, and going to Hell DAILY. Trans women are murdered with shocking frequency, LGBT youth make up more than HALF of the underage homeless population, our domestic violence/sexual assault/assault rates are exponentially higher than in the straight/cis population. Multiply these if you are a queer PoC, or disabled, or neurodivergent, etc. And yet I'm told that America is inclusive and fair because we have gay marriage now - long after many other countries, and only after a long and vicious fight.

And now I'm seeing posts about how he was just a self-hating gay man, how he had a profile on a "gay website", how he was a regular at the club. He also may possibly have been struggling with the innate queerness that most humans have, but he was also a known violent abuser, and people like that are known to case and study their victims. It's very possible that he was doing just that, especially since it was known that he showed open rage against two men kissing in public. Trying to claim he was gay is just another way to blame the LGBT community for their own tragedy.

Even if he were ~secretly~ gay, it wasn't the LGBT community that taught him to hate the gays. We didn't do this. This was caused by toxic masculinity, the American kyriarchy, and the ease of obtaining weapons that can kill an entire room of people in seconds, despite the fact that he had a history of domestic violence and terrorist threats.

This was caused by every politician who pocketed NRA money and voted against weapons laws and against LGBT protections. This was caused by every pastor and priest who cries about the sin of the LGBT community while simultaneously hiding child sex crimes in their own churches. This was caused by every cop that's shot a PoC and gotten away with a paid vacation, while judges shrug their shoulders and claim it was self-defense as if being non-white is a threat in itself. This was caused by every man that's called another man a pussy for showing any emotion besides anger. This was caused by every parent that threw out their gay or trans child, leaving them to be homeless and proving their parental love was very conditional. This was caused by every person who has made a disparaging comment against undocumented immigrants, using phrases like "my tax dollars" and "aliens" but somehow only thinks about those people if they happen to be brown. This was caused by every film director who has used a man in a dress as a cheap joke. This was caused by every person that's seen any of these things and said nothing.

If you feel that twinge of guilt in your heart or that urge to post defensively about NotAllChristians, NotAllCisHet, NotAllMen, you need to start doing some serious thinking about who you are and who you want to be. It's not enough to tolerate us. It's not enough to "only" hate us behind our backs and expect us to thank you for your restraint. As far as I'm concerned, if you are not vocally and actively supportive of the LGBT/PoC communities, then you are against us.

[aphelion-necrology]

[afunkysippycup]

Christina Aguilera releases a song with repeating chorus line, "waiting for a change.” John Mayer has a song titled "Waiting for the World to Change." White people can afford to wait, but people of color have to demand and make change for ourselves. This is not to detract from the intention for Christina’s song to financially aid Orlando victims and families, just that the words seem so passively hopeful.