ABOVE: Organizations across Central Florida are taking to the internet to honor the four-year mark of the Pulse nightclub shooting. (Photo by Dylan Todd)
It’s been four years since the Pulse nightclub shooting that claimed the lives of 49 people and forever changed the city of Orlando and its LGBTQ+ community. Despite the limitations of social distancing caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a number of local organizations are coming together in new ways to commemorate the tragedy and celebrate the lives of those lost to it.
onePULSE Foundation:
onePULSE Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to the construction of a Pulse memorial and museum, is holding its Annual Remembrance Ceremony virtually this year. The ceremony’s lineup consists of a reading of the 49 victims’ names by their family members, as well as appearances by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings, onePULSE Foundation Board Chair Earl Crittenden and onePULSE CEO Barbara Poma.
The event has been prerecorded and can be viewed on the onePULSE Foundation Facebook page or the onePULSE Foundation YouTube Channel on June 12 at 7 p.m.
In addition to the Annual Remembrance Ceremony, a virtual tour of the Pulse Interim Memorial is now available for viewing.
“This year, even though we cannot gather together physically at the Pulse Interim Memorial, we can all still come together as a community and Be the Rainbow,” the foundation said in a statement on their official website.
onePULSE Foundation has also created the hashtag #WeWillNotLetHateWin to allow people affected by the Pulse tragedy to share their memories across social media.
The foundation has been creating and sharing tribute posts for each of the 49 victims online to further solidify a spirit of remembrance.
Franky was a world-travelling professional Jíbaro folk dancer—an art he brought with him from Puerto Rico. pic.twitter.com/GJ1Nv6B4pB
— onePULSE Foundation (@onePULSEorg) June 11, 2020
Always a positive influence on his friends and loved ones, Luis was a student at Seminole State College and ride operator at Universal Orlando Resort’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter. pic.twitter.com/EBp4EY3tGW
— onePULSE Foundation (@onePULSEorg) June 11, 2020
UCF:
At the University of Central Florida, LGBTQ Services – the school’s resource office for LGBTQ+ students and allies – is posting a series of videos featuring various members of the campus community, in which they discuss their activist efforts to make Orlando a more inclusive community in the wake of the Pulse tragedy. These videos can be found across UCF LGBTQ Services’ various social media pages.
In the video below, Sean Quinlan – president and founder of oSTEM at UCF – discusses the significance of One Orlando Alliance’s #ActLoveGive campaign, which encourages Orlando residents to document their experiences of giving and receiving gestures of kindness and love.
Valencia College:
At Valencia College, the student development teams across the schools’ different campuses have been making a series of daily posts on social media since June 1 to commemorate the Pulse anniversary. These posts have provided information on LGBTQ+ history and advocacy by highlighting prominent LGBTQ+ figures and community resources.
On June 12, East Campus is hosting a virtual Pulse Remembrance at 1:00 p.m. The event will feature a performance by Divine AF, an LGBTQ+ indie folk-rock band from Sarasota, a “Speak Out” discussion panel, in which campus and community leaders will share their perspectives on relevant LGBTQ+ issues and a live Q&A session with the members of Divine AF.
The Valencia College Pulse Remembrance can be viewed on the Valencia College Student Development YouTube channel, as well as the Valencia College East Campus Student Development Facebook page.
The Orange County Regional History Center:
The Orange County Regional History Center, a history museum in downtown Orlando, collaborated with the Smithsonian Institution to co-host a digital program for Pride Month on June 11.
Residents are given the opportunity to join Katherine Ott, curator and historian at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Ott will discuss her process of curating “Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall”, an exhibition that “commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and other pivotal moments in the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.”
Additionally, on June 12 at noon, the History Center’s chief curator Pam Schwartz and One Orlando registrar Jeremy Hileman are providing a tour of “The Stories They Could Tell”, a virtual exhibition that presents physical artifacts that personify the stories of the 49 Pulse victims and affected community members. During this time, residents will have the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at what went into the making of the exhibition. “The Stories They Could Tell” is available in English and Spanish and does not have an admission fee. Registration for the curator’s tour can be found here.
Section 93 of the Sea-to-Sea flag, “the world’s largest 1.25-mile original 8-color LGBTQ rainbow flag” is expected to be returned to the Orange County Admin Building during this week, according to Marc Espeso, LGBTQ+ liaison for Orange County . The flag was created in 2003 in Key West, Florida and designed by Gilbert Baker, the original creator of the rainbow flag. The entirety of the flag spanned “the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and required more than 2,000 people to carry it.”
For survivors of the Pulse tragedy and immediate family of victims, the Orlando United Assistance Center continues to offer resources to “aid in [their] physical and emotional healing.” Services provided include: case management, navigation of and connection with community resources, referrals for mental health and counseling services and support in addressing issues such as rent/mortgage assistance, immigration, utility assistance and transportation issues.
