New Yorkers Gather Outside Stonewall Inn To Pay Respects To Orlando Victims

“Whatever this evil is that’s spreading across the world, it seems like people everywhere are starting to get a taste of it.”

This is said apropos of nothing by a woman standing beside The Stonewall Inn; she says she came to “pay her respects” by joining the crowd that right now is jostling for a position directly in front of the bar.

By the front entrance, a spray of flowers, notes, and candles have been placed as a memorial to the fifty people lost in the Orlando massacre early Sunday morning. The vigil officially starts at seven. One man, one of many hovering around the shrine, openly sobs: “Everyone be careful out there,” he keeps saying to strangers shuffling past. Pockets of people scream “Love, not hate!” Police officers swarm near the barricades erected up and down Christopher Street. Many clutch automatic rifles. A lone chopper circles overhead.

Cutting through the crowd, a bicycle messenger grows exasperated as he’s momentarily gridlocked: “What the fuck is this faggot shit?” he barks. He spits next to the memorial before escaping the throng. News crews with cameras and microphones vie for the closest proximity to the bar entrance: NYS governor Andrew Cuomo and New York mayor Bill de Blasio Andrew Cuomo and NYC mayor Bill De Blasio will be saying a few words at some point during the night.

To watch a live feed of the vigil, you can visit here or here.

                                                 

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Orlando Shooter Frequented Gay Nightclub Pulse, Messaged Guys on a Gay Dating App: REPORTS

Reports have surfaced suggesting that Omar Mateen, the shooter responsible for the death of at least 49 people at gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, was a regular at that club and also messaged guys on a gay dating app.

RELATED: Get Out. Keep Running. — Susie Bright on Orlando

According to The Orlando Sentinel, Mateen visited the gay nightclub at least 12 times, a fact corroborated by 4 witnesses.

Reports of Mateen’s visits to Pulse were also reported in the Canadian Press, as Gawker points out:

“It’s the same guy,” Chris Callen, who performs under the name Kristina McLaughlin, told the Canadian Press. “He’s been going to this bar for at least three years.”

Ty Smith, who also goes by the name Aries, also said he’d seen Mateen being escorted drunk from the club, Pulse, on multiple occasions.

“(He’d get) really, really drunk… He couldn’t drink when he was at home—around his wife, or family. His father was really strict… He used to bitch about it,” Smith told the Canadian Press.

“Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent,” Smith also explained to the Orlando Sentinel, which spoke with at least four clubgoers who remembered seeing Mateen at Pulse at least a dozen times. “We didn’t really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times… He told us he had a wife and child.”

Both Callen and Smith, who are married, tell the Canadian Press they stopped speaking to Mateen after he threatened them with a knife, apparently after someone made a joke about religion.

Callen and Smith are married and told the Canadian Press Mateen threatened them with a knife. The incident occurred after someone allegedly made a joke about religion to Mateen. Callen recalled, “[Mateen] said if he ever messed with him again, you know how it’ll turn out.”

Chris Hayes will be interviewing one of the men who reportedly knew Mateen after meeting him on a gay dating app. That individual says he was a regular at Pulse.

The man I spoke with today also said the shooter has messaged him on a gay dating app. His friend as well. We’ll run the interview tonight.

— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 13, 2016

I talked to regular today who said the same. And that his friends recognized him as well. t.co/HOCEq1q4C9

— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 13, 2016

“At least four regular customers at the nightclub…believe they had seen the killer, Omar Mateen, there before.” t.co/5XM5DoMQpt

— Murtaza Hussain (@MazMHussain) June 13, 2016

Developing…

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Get Out. Keep Running. — Susie Bright on Orlando

I’ll never forget those words — in a Wilmington working class gay bar, with Melody, in 1977. You could smell the oil fields then. It was packed; a gay men’s club all week, but on weekends, women showed up, too. I was 19. I had on a crushed blue velvet leotard slit down the front like Cher and high waist jeans. Later, I busted that zipper.

Don’t call a doctor
Don’t call her momma
Don’t call her preacher

Something loud happened; everyone started screaming. Melody grabbed my arm like a claw. I was so high. GET OUT. The music went wrong. Glass shattered. The crowd mobbed toward the back. Melody gave me that look, don’t stand there, and she dragged me. Dragged me through the fire exit with fifty others, another fifty people screaming Vámonos! and I was screaming Why? Melody ditched her shoes and I ditched mine and we ran along the train tracks, ducking between boxcars. I saw the lights, heard the sirens. My questions answered: a police raid. My zipper bust open. Thank god it wasn’t my skull. Just keep running.

The raid went unreported except from one gay mouth to the next. The Long Beach PD had once again busted a bunch of “faggots” with their billy clubs, charged everyone with sex offender raps and hosted a violent night in County Jail. If you were one of the people there that night, it still sits on your record; it destroyed your life. Maybe you still have the headaches — or worse — from your head being bashed.

Long Beach is on the border of Orange County — O.C., where Christian televangelists and career politicians, extreme in opinion and corruption, have dominated for years. They ran the schools, the city councils, the criminal justice system. This is in a huge community of disenfranchised residents. A large working class the media never notices. Spanish is a first language for many. It’s home to Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom. There is a black gay community, a PAPI gay community, a Mexican and Chicano gay community, a Middle Eastern gay community. Drag was never looked down on. Club music ruled.

This is the California county where Anita Bryant reached out from Florida in the 1970s to keep “HOMOSEXUALS OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS.” Her O.C. soul brother, Senator John Briggs, led a movement to criminalize not only gay teachers but also their “friends,” whatever that means. They were the Orange Juice Firing Squad, screaming about “bathrooms” from the very beginning.

I woke up Sunday to the news of Orlando and its faintly beating pulse. Keep Running. Floridian politics have long been been hijacked by fundamentalist redneck homophobes, people who make Anita Bryant look soft. Hello Marco Rubio, Rick Scott. They understand all too well how to shame the flock, the knife of self-loathing and sexual repression. They’ve sent their shock troops to abortion clinics, they’ve led the “bathroom wars,” they’ve torn children out of their (gay) parents’ arms. With God on their side.

This particular murderer wasn’t Christian. He wasn’t converted by the white GOP. But this religious man had almost beaten his ex-wife to death. This is a murderer who stalked a former co-worker with hundreds of race-and-sex obsessive messages, until the man quit in fear. This is a visibly-ill gun enthusiast who posed for selfies in NYPD work shirts to look the kind of hyper-masculine badass he esteemed, the kind of man who would never, ever suck cock. —Because there is nothing worse for a man than to want that, right? That stain so worse than death; that only a bloodbath can wash it out.

The killer’s father has offered an explanation: his son Omar was walking downtown and got upset when he saw two men kissing; Omar proclaimed his little three-year-old son should not have to see that. He couldn’t stop repeating it. But it wasn’t the toddler who was upset, it was the fathers. Sexual repression is the unspoken driver of religious mania. It was a grown man, Omar Mateen, who couldn’t stop seeing that kiss every time he closed his eyes, and looked for a scripture, a war flag, to relieve him, to justify anything.

When will we say it? Prudery Kills. Sexual shame is the kissing cousin of hateful homicide. More taboo than gun control, the one diagnosis the docs won’t touch. Repression is the glue that binds every missionary effort. I don’t want to run anymore. This man didn’t want to be brown or black, but he was. He didn’t want to be queer, but I think he was. He didn’t want to keep feeling the things he did, and he made a last-minute pledge to ISIS that was supposed to throw us off the trail. Show me one of these crazy delusional fucks who isn’t as latent as a three-dollar bill soaked in hellfire brine and Daddy issues. I don’t care what their stupid religion is, they’re all culpable. I don’t want to run anymore. And apparently, neither did Omar. An incredible price to pay.

 

A best-selling author and the country’s preeminent feminist sex writer, Susie Bright is one of the worlds most respected voices on sexual politics, as well as an award-winning author, activist, editor.  In light of the significant role of sexuality in the short document, Susie’s lifelong body of work make hers an interesting voice to check in with. 

All opinions expressed are those of the author.

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WATCH LIVE: The Eiffel Tower Lit Up in Rainbow Colors For Orlando

The Eiffel Tower lit up in rainbow colors for the second night in a row in honor of the people who were brutally gunned down at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida on Sunday.

The tower was lit up on Sunday night in a rainbow scheme to show that Paris stands in solidarity with Orlando.

Paris stands with Orlando. Tonight @LaTourEiffel will wear the rainbow flag as a tribute to the victims. #lovewins pic.twitter.com/MDk4ZamrRg

— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) June 13, 2016

On Monday, the tower was lit up to more closely resemble the rainbow flag, a symbol synonymous with gay rights.

#ParisStandsWithOrlando #LoveWins pic.twitter.com/2OISfTuKxB

— La tour Eiffel (@LaTourEiffel) June 13, 2016

You can watch live video of the Eiffel Tower lit up in rainbow colors, below.

 

Paris was the site of two horrific terrorist attacks in recent years, first the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015 and the multi-pronged attack on the city in November of that year which included an attack on the Bataclan theatre.

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How Should We Respond? We Have to Love Our Lives Even More (Video)

Writer and trans activist Hannah Simpson expands on the advice that got cheers outside the Stonewall.

www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/6/13/how-should-we-respond-we-have-love-our-lives-even-more-video

PHOTOS: L.A. Pride Soldiers On

www.advocate.com/pride/2016/6/13/photos-la-pride-soldiers

Why It’s More Important Than Ever To Live Out And Proud

“It could have been us.”

I kept hearing that Sunday from friends at the Capital Pride Festival and on Facebook.

“It could have been us.”

We know that when we identify as LGBT, we become targets. Whether it’s bullies in schools, politicians who use us to score political points, or those who will go to violent extremes, we know that there are those out there who hate us and are willing to make their hate known.

And we deal with that. We keep in in the backs of our minds at all times. We all know people who have been harassed or the victims of violence – or we’ve experienced it directly ourselves.

We surround ourselves with friends and then we watch out for each other. We live in neighborhoods and cities where we feel safe. And we gather at places with other LGBT people to feel that sense of community and safety.

That’s why this event has shaken my community to its core today. It struck at a place that had become a place where they felt secure and safe and could be themselves. It sets off all of our fears of what could happen to us just because we exist.

So what do we do now?

First, we grieve for our LGBT family in Orlando: those who died or were injured and their loved ones and the entire Orlando LGBT community who have been devastated by this.

Second, we keep doing what we’ve been doing for decades now: be out and proud.

We need to keep coming out to our family, friends, and co-workers. We need to be affectionate with our significant others in public by holding hands or kissing. We need continue to push our elected officials – and those who want to be elected – to support full equality for LGBT Americans and to stop using our community as a punching bag to score points.

And we need to stand up to hatred and bigotry whenever and wherever we encounter it.

There will come a day when this kind of hatred and violence is history. We may not see it in our lifetimes, but it will come. And it’s our job to do all we can to help bring that day closer.

I’m closing this with one of my favorite songs, “O-O-H Child” by The Five Stairsteps. It’s my go-to song when I need to be reminded that there is still hope for the future.

That kind of hope for a brighter future has motivated the LGBTQ community for nearly half a century. That’s the hope we need to continue to hold onto even on dark days like this.

Chip Lewis is a DC-based writer and communications consultant. He’s also happy to share his numerous opinions on everything from politics to pop culture.

Photo: GMF Berlin

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These Are the Victims We Know Of So Far From the Orlando Massacre – PHOTOS, VIDEOS

According to reports, 46 of the 49 victims massacred on Sunday at gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida have been identified.

ABC News shared a list of those individuals on Twitter.

46 of the 49 #Orlando shooting victims have been identified.

These are their names. t.co/nK8zluuVh3 pic.twitter.com/RglXrQhYG3

— ABC News (@ABC) June 13, 2016

The news service also shared a video showing pictures of 14 of those individuals.

These are the faces of 14 of the 49 #Orlando shooting victims. t.co/nK8zluMw8Bt.co/HLIHtXqaWp

— ABC News (@ABC) June 13, 2016

Andy Cohen posted a collage of some of the victims on Instagram on Monday.

 

As of this posting, the collage has been liked over 34,000 times.

This is the list of victims currently being shared by NBC News: 

•Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34.

•Stanley Almodovar III, 23.

•Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20.

•Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22.

•Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36.

•Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22.

•Luis S. Vielma, 22.

•Kimberly Morris, 37.

•Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30.

•Darryl Roman Burt II, 29.

•Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32.

•Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21.

•Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25.

•Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35.

•Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50.

•Amanda Alvear, 25.

•Martin Benitez Torres, 33.

•Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37.

•Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26.

•Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35.

•Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25.

•Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31.

•Oscar A. Aracena-Montero, 26.

•Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25.

•Miguel Angel Honorato, 30.

•Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40.

•Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32.

•Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19.

•Cory James Connell, 21.

•Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37.

•Luis Daniel Conde, 39.

•Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33.

•Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25.

•Jerald Arthur Wright, 31.

•Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25.

•Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25.

•Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24.

•Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27.

•Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33.

•Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49.

•Yilmary Rodriguez Sulivan, 24.

•Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32.

•Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28.

•Frank Hernandez, 27.

•Paul Terrell Henry, 41.

BuzzFeed has also been compiling information on the victims of the horrific attack. 

Watch a news report on the victims of Sunday’s attack via Inside Edition, below.

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