#orlando 2016

[imaginarylands4000]

[char-simps-for-everyone]

Day 12 : Remembering Orlando

I had heard about the shooting back in 2016, but the big news channels never actually covered it in my home country so I never knew the details. Now that I’ve looked into it, I don’t even have the words. My thoughts go to the survivors and families of the victims, of course. But how can a person actually do such a horrible thing ?

49 people. Killed.

Honestly, it scares me that someone could go to such extremes because they can’t accept who we are and who we love.

Love is love, dammit. The sooner everyone understands that, the better for everyone.

[irishpoliticaladventurer-blog]

Orlando 2016

Today, 13 June, we are 165 days into 2016. As of yesterday, the United States has seen 173 mass shootings in 2016 alone.

Yesterday, fifty people were killed as a result of the tragic and dangerous mix of gun violence and hatred that is so sadly prevalent in the USA today. Fifty human beings have had their lives prematurely ended in the worst mass shooting the country has ever seen. Fifty. Every one a brother, sister, son, daughter, parent, friend - loved one.

Let that sink in - seeing someone you love be mercilessly killed in such a cold and impersonal manner (when there is such a high list of fatalities, it is difficult to allow for true respect and identification and mourning for each individual victim, as much as we would like to). Seeing someone you love leave to go out and enjoy themselves, only to never come home again. Never getting to see or speak to them again - for no reason other than existing as the people that they were.

A man did not like the  LGBT+ community, and now fifty people have died. When will it end? As Owen Jones said, this was an act of homophobic terrorism. Terrorism. When people say there is no requirement for LGBT+ pride, when people spout rubbish about how our society is equal and there is no need for those fighting for social justice, let them remember the events of yesterday and think again. When will the world wake up?

When will politicians in the USA who are so pro-US Constitution and take the second amendment - the right to bear arms - as absolute gospel, when will they realise that THIS IS NOT OKAY? “It’s our right as citizens to have guns” - what about the rights of these people who have been killed, yesterday in Florida and every single other person killed as a result of lenient gun laws? What about their right to live? How can your right to own and carry a  gun be of greater importance than someone’s right to simply be ALIVE? It does not matter who they are -  Every. Single. Person killed thanks to guns should be regretted and their deaths should be a point of learning for those who still blindly refuse stricter gun control.

However, all of this aside, the most sickeningly important fact of all is that the worst mass shooting in US history was targeted towards the LGBT+ community. Coincidence? No. These people were killed, not in an act of random ruthless violence, but in a planned attack against a community of people who are merely trying to live their lives as themselves in an already harsh and often unforgiving society. When will people from all backgrounds and lives - be it sexuality, gender, religion, nationality or what have you - be able to live alongside one another in peace? Why can’t human beings leave other human beings alone to live? Why are we so cruel to our own kind?

I feel sick. I feel like this hasn’t even been even remotely sufficient for what happened yesterday, but here you go. Rest in peace everyone who has been killed, in every gun attack but particularly yesterday in Orlando. May your deaths not be in vain and be a catalyst for change and progress.

“IN THE FUTURE, NO ONE WILL KILL ANYONE, THE EARTH WILL SHINE, THE HUMAN RACE WILL LOVE. IT WILL COME, CITIZENS, THE DAY WHEN ALL WILL BE PEACE, HARMONY, LIGHT, JOY AND LIFE, IT WILL COME.” - Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862).

When will it end?

[tannedlegsandtoerrific]

pro tip

When you have to dance your set right after a 6x World Champ, pretend all the applause are actually for you

[starboydjh]

All crystalled and ready to go! 4 days until dance day! 💎🍀🌴☀️

[lifeinthefeislane]

first round down and she killed it!! watch out for this girl today 💗👊🏼🇺🇸 #naidc2016

[tannedlegsandtoerrific]

Hey! does anyone have the splits from the program for Senior Ladies? I don’t get to Orlando until Sunday and would love to know who’s in my comp. Trying to figure it out from the 27 pages of names has been hard. 

[fangsofthunderandmischief]

There's this girl I know whose super straight and all talking about how badly Orlando has effected her… like how can you even say it effects you so badly? To the point where you're bawling all over your social media. You're not gay. You can't say oh god this is an attack on me and what I believe in, because it's not. It's just frustrating.