You know what happened in Orlando early Sunday around two in the morning after a Saturday night's revelry at the gay dance club
Pulse. Here's what I read yesterday evening from the Associated Press:
Worst mass shooting in US history: 50 slain at gay nightclub. I had been busy all day with chores, disconnecting myself from the world until I saw my local evening news, the NBC coverage, and some of what CNN had.
This horrific event is historic for LGBT people and cannot go unremarked. It ranks with
- The Stonewall Riots of 1969, Manhattan, 13 arrested, many hospitalized, others wounded. We acknowledge Stonewall as a turning point in the LGBT Movement. See The Stonewall Riot and Its Aftermath from Columbia University for original source material and historic perspective.
- The UpStairs Lounge Arson of 1973, New Orleans, 32 dead, 15 wounded, the third arson that year against MCC churches - MCC met at the bar - and a huge blow to our community often overlooked. The historic building was owned by the family that now calls it the Jimani Lounge. Says Royd Anderson, creator of a documentary about the fire, “Louisiana does a pretty good job of keeping its tragedies a secret.” You can read stories from the current owner's web site - don't be misled by the similar titles - The Tragedy Of The UpStairs Lounge and a personal account including a video clip of the only national news coverage of the event, The Haunting Tragedy Of The UpStairs Lounge. There's also The Advocate's story at the time of the documentary, Remembering the Worst Mass Killing of LGBT People in U.S. History.
I don't think they should go back and change the title of the piece, but it would be appropriate to add an update at the beginning putting in light of the new mass murder.
- The Assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, San Francisco, 1978, 2 dead. The lenient sentence for murderer Supervisor Dan White lead to the White Night Riots, no deaths (until White committed suicide), but many civilians and police were injured and hospitalized. You can refer to Wikipedia on the assassinations and the riots since I do have other work today, after all.
And of course, we've seen numerous attacks and killings of LGBT people either in small numbers or with less impact. Most notable is the rise in attention paid to anti-trans violence and the astoundingly large number of trans people, especially transwomen of color, murdered each year. Last summer TIME said it was at an
historic rate given the size of the trans demographic.
But Orlando is different from the bashings and murders we hear about frequently. This is a mass killing, specifically directed
at us in a way we haven't seen for decades. It is also part of the ISIS terrorism and a part of the pattern of US gun violence and mass shootings. It is many things wrapped up together.
Last night I posted the following as a "Note" on my personal Facebook page:
They call themselves “Al-Dawlah Al-Islamiyah fe Al-Iraq wa Al-Sham,” which some in the Arab World call “DAIISH” or “Da'esh.” These names, along with the version “Daesh” used in many Western countries, are pejorative. In some contexts, as in the worlds of Cthulhu and Harry Potter, the ultimate hideous horror is called “He Who Must Not Be Named.” The group is also called ISIS, ISIL, and other names.
I call it fear. I call it terror. I call it an extremist apocalyptic cult with weapons and a global network of agents who may not be formally connected to it. I call it death.
This is the name, and to know the true name and nature of a personage or group confers power on those who know it.
I have been offline, and although I posted a couple things from my email I did not see the horrid news from Florida until I turned on the TV to see what new floods today's heavy storms may have caused. The station's owner also owns a station in Orlando. After a brief local segment they cut away to the Orlando station and then it came: Fifty dead at a gay club. Dozens more casualties. A shooter who called 911 and said he paid allegiance to ISIS.
It took time to grasp what had happened and to carefully craft a response.
The gunman's father says he was homophobic. It has not yet been shown he was affiliated with the group, although he pledged to it in the midst of the horror. He had been investigated twice by the FBI in terror-connected matters and those cases were closed. This matters little when a civilian can obtain a military weapon and terminate the lives of fifty.
They throw us off buildings in Syria. They shoot us as we celebrate in the United States of America. Jews, the French and the Belgians, any random place or group whether in San Bernardino or Sydney may be targeted.
Yet we must not fear.
In this, our month of Pride, our first response must be to love ourselves more. We must love each other even more. We must stand together without fear, but in the genuine strength of love.
And yes, in this spirit we must lovingly bring our enemies to justice and work for peace in this world. These two objectives are not polar opposites. In fact, they work hand in hand.
As we stop the violence within ourselves, we grow stronger. As we stop the violence with each other, we grow even stronger. And as we compassionately bring the unjust to justice, we do the work that holds the Universe together.
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I wrote that thinking introspectively, how do I and how do we gather strength in these times? So I started off with the terrorism and ended up with love. It's complicated.
I'm also (in the words of Womyns Music and Folk Music singer/songwriter Holly Near) a "gentle angry person" who is honestly torn and unsure what to attribute to homophobia, what to attribute to ISIS, and what to attribute to the fact that we have allowed mass shootings to become so commonplace in American life.
Of course each of us comes from a different point of view and we will have differences of perspective and opinion. I'm not here to debate, but rather to mark this momentous event and to allow you to express your thoughts if you wish. Of course, you have many other venues to do that, too.
Plato told his students the we see reality as a shadow on a cave wall, that's as close as we get to the truth. Paul told the Corinthians we "see through a glass, darkly," again not seeing the true nature of things. And in many Eastern cultures, there is a tradition of shadow puppetry, seen in other cultures too, and the story lies in the interplay of light and dark.
Likewise, we have limits to our knowledge. We would do well to approach issues with a certain humility uncharacteristic of these times.
A final thought. My email already shows messages from various groups telling me "Love Is Love" and "OrlandoStrong." The one that resonates most came from the President's organizing group:
"Doing Nothing Is Not An Acceptable Decision."
That group asks you to join they attempt to strengthen gun laws. You might deduce my opinion on that issue, but I won't broadcast it here.
What I do ask is that you contribute to the fund for the victims and families of the Pulse Nightclub Shooting:
https://www.gofundme.com/PulseVictimsFund. Please also read the statement and updates from
Equality Florida about what happened and the resources and events they offer.