The Heartbreaking Story Of The Mother Who Died Saving Her Son In Orlando Attack

49-year-old Brenda Lee Marquez McCool was what many would consider a cool mom. She had tattoos, she rocked a trendy haircut, she loved salsa dancing and she totally supported her 21-year-old gay son, Isaiah Henderson. So much so that she tagged along with him and his friends last Saturday when they went out to Pulse Nightclub.

Brenda, a two-time cancer survivor and mother of 11, was dancing with Isaiah when Omar Mateen opened fire on the club with an AR-15 assault-style weapon. Bullets flew through the air. Bodies dropped all around them. And that’s when the gunman turned his weapon their way, according to her sister-in-law Ada Pressley.

“Brenda saw him point the gun. She said, ‘Get down,’ to Isaiah and she got in front of him,” Pressley tells NY Daily News. “She was a brave woman. All day and night we hoped she would be in the hospital.”

It wasn’t until late Monday that the family learned Brenda had not survived.

“She was shot dead,” Pressley explains. “That’s how much she loved her kids. If it weren’t for her, he’d of been shot.”

Just two hours before her death, Brenda had uploaded this video of herself Salsa dancing on Facebook:

Because of his mother’s bravery, Isaiah survived Saturday night’s terrorist attack. Afterwards, he posted on social media:

Just laying here thinking that I was just with my mom 24 hours ago, this is so surreal I love you mom.

According to Pressley, Brenda was always very supportive of her gay son.

“Every year she comes to New York to celebrate the Puerto Rican Day Parade,” she said. “But this year she went to Pulse to celebrate. If she’d come to New York, she’d be alive.”

Another one of her sons, Farrell Marshall, set up a GoFundMe page to help cover his mother’s funeral costs. So far, over $20,000 has been raised.

“One decision changed the lives of many,” wrote Marshall. “You will forever be in our hearts. Always. I truly love you so much MOM!”

The day before she died, Brenda wrote the following status update on her Facebook page:

Words Brenda lived and died by.

Related: Here Are The Victims Of The Orlando Shooting At Pulse Nightclub

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POTUS Slays: Obama on Assault Weapons, ‘Radical Islam’, and Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban – WATCH

President Obama on Tuesday denounced Donald Trump’s proposed ‘Muslim ban’ and excoriated those who criticize him for not using the term ‘radical Islam.’

The speech was far-ranging and covered the Orlando shooting, the war against ISIL, gun control, and Donald Trump.

Said President Obama of assault weapons,

“…here at home, if we really want to help law enforcement protect Americans from home-grown extremists, the kind of tragedies that occurred at San Bernardino and that now have occurred in Orlando, there is a meaningful way to do that. We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents. […]

“What exactly would using this label would accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to try to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this?

The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction.

Since before I was president, I have been clear about how extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. As president, I have called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the world’s great religions.”

The president then took on a more sarcastic tone, quipping, “Not once has an adviser of mine said, ‘Man, if we use that phrase, we are going to turn this whole thing around,’ not once.” He wondered whether “someone [read: Trump] seriously thinks that we don’t know who we are fighting?”

Obama added, “there is no magic to the phrase ‘radical Islam.’ It is a political talking point. It is not a strategy.”

He also spelled out exactly why he doesn’t use that term, and it “has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism.”

Obama said, “If we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims as a broad brush, and imply that we are at war with the entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists’ work for them.”

Obama then took on Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, saying,

“Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer — they were all U.S. citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim-Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminate them, because of their faith?

We heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this?”

Watch Obama’s full speech, below.

The post POTUS Slays: Obama on Assault Weapons, ‘Radical Islam’, and Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

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Anderson Cooper Grills Florida AG Pam Bondi Over Her Opposition to Gay Rights: WATCH

On Tuesday, Anderson Cooper took Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to task for her about-face on LGBT rights in the wake of the Orlando shooting massacre.

Bondi famously fought tooth and nail against gay marriage in the Sunshine State. Now, Bondi has signaled her support for the LGBT community following the the attack on gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando. Said Bondi on Sunday, “Anyone who attacks our LGBT community, anyone who attacks anyone in our state, will be gone after to the fullest extent of the law.”

Cooper noted that those remarks didn’t sit right with a lot of LGBT people in the state, who have known Bondi has a civil rights foe.

Cooper said to Bondi,

“I talked to a lot of gay and lesbian people here yesterday who are not fans of yours and who said that they thought you were being a hypocrite, that you for years have fought — you basically gone after gay people, said that in court that gay people simply by fighting for marriage equality were trying to do harm to the people of Florida. To induce public harm, I believe was the term you used in court. Do you really think you’re a champion of the gay community?”

Bondi responded by saying that she was merely defending the state constitution. She added, “I’ve never said I don’t like gay people, that’s ridiculous.”

Cooper tried to get Bondi to acknowledge the specific arguments she and her lawyers used to fight same-sex marriage — again, that affording LGBT people marriage equality would “impose significant public harm” on the state — but Bondi refused to take accountability for using that line of reasoning. “Anderson, I don’t believe gay people could do harm to the state of Florida,” she said.

Cooper noted what he called the “sick irony” of the fact that spouses of the LGBT victims in Sunday’s shooting would not be legally entitled to obtain updates or survivor benefits if Bondi had gotten her way and blocked gay marriage in Florida.

Said Cooper,

“The hotline that you’ve been talking about on television which allows family members and spouses of the dead to get information, which is incredibly important, and I appreciate you talking about it on the air, had there been no gay marriage, had there been no same-sex marriage, you do realize that spouses, there would be no spouses, that boyfriends and girlfriends of the dead would not be able to get information and would not be able probably even to visit in the hospital here. Isn’t there a sick irony in that?”

Bondi continued to pivot away from her past opposition to gay marriage, but Cooper wouldn’t let her off the hook. He pointed out that he couldn’t find a history of Bondi making any remarks about the LGBT community prior to the Orlando massacre that were not hurtful or derogatory:

“It’s just that — I will say I have never really seen you talk about gays and lesbians and transgender people in a positive way until now. I read your Twitter history for the last year, and I saw you tweeting about, you know, national dog month and national shelter dog appreciation day or adopt a shelter dog month. It is gay pride month. You’ve never even tweeted about gay pride month.”

Bondi replied by saying she had posted a picture of rainbow-colored hands intertwined together on her website after the shooting.

Cooper concluded by saying, “I know a lot of gay and lesbian people in the state want to feel that the people that represent them, represent everybody in the state.” To which Bondi could only reply, “We’re human beings and that’s what this is about.”

Watch video, via Media Matters For America, below.

UPDATE 4:47 PM EST: As noted above, Bondi says that her website now features an image of rainbow-colored hands embracing. According to Politico’s Marc Caputo, it doesn’t.

Pam Bondi says her website has ‘rainbow-hands people’ in re: Orlando shooting. But it doesnt t.co/vztc0SARW5 pic.twitter.com/VtPICco03I

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) June 14, 2016

The post Anderson Cooper Grills Florida AG Pam Bondi Over Her Opposition to Gay Rights: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

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Donald Trump Thanks The LGBT Community. But For What?

“Your pandering is as transparent as your bigotry,” the HRC president tweeted to Trump.

The post Donald Trump Thanks The LGBT Community. But For What? appeared first on ThinkProgress.

thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/14/3788583/donald-trump-thanks-the-lgbt-community-but-for-what/

4 More Orlando Nightclub Heroes Share Their Courageous Stories

On Monday, we shared the stories of just a few of the heroes who saved lives of loved ones and strangers during the Orlando LGBTQ nightclub shooting.

Today, we are learning more of these stories – of a war veteran who led dozens to safety, of a man who silenced a fellow clubgoer so the shooter would not hear her screams and find her, of a mom who pushed her son out of harm’s way so that he would live.

Here are their stories:

Imran Yousuf

Imran Yousuf, 24, served with the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan and is no stranger to the sound of gunshots. He was near the back when he heard the familiar sound.

He was caught up in a throng of people who fled to a back hallway in search of an exterior door.

The door was latched, and in a sea of panic, none of the people closest to the door were able to unlatch it.

“And I’m screaming ‘Open the door! Open the door!’ And no one is moving because they are scared,” he told CBS News. “There was only one choice. Either we all stay there and we all die, or I could take the chance, and I jumped over to open that latch a we got everyone that we can out of there.”

Yousuf estimates that 60 or 70 people fled through the door once he opened it, but says he wished there was more he could have done.

“I wish I could have saved more to be honest,” he said through tears. “There are a lot of people that are dead …there are a lot of people that are dead.”

Christopher Hansen

Christopher Hansen was on his way out of the club when he came across a young woman who had been shot in the arm.

“I’m not going to leave these victims behind,” he told CNN’s New Day. “I wanted to make sure she was alert. I was not leaving her until she was assisted.”

Samuel Maldonado

Samuel Maldonado and his partner took shelter from the gunfire under a table that was draped with a black tablecloth, hidden from the shooter’s view.

A blood-covered woman collapsed nearby and was screaming in anguish. Maldonado pulled her under the table and covered her mouth to stifle her screams.

When the shooter turned around, Maldonado and the woman fled to safety.

“I grabbed this young girl and I threw her first and I was able to go and as soon as I did, I saw the police officers.”

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, a mom of 11 children, was dancing at the club with her 21-year-old son Isaiah Henderson.

She saw the gunman and pushed Henderson out of the way. He escaped and survived, but McCool did not.

“I want my mother to be remembered as a great person, a person who loved you no matter what color, no matter what ethnicity, no matter what sexual orientation,” her son Mark Marquez told WNEP. “I want her to be remembered as a loving and caring person.”

Photo (left to right, top to bottom): Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, Christopher Hansen, Samuel Maldonado, Imran Yousuf

www.hrc.org/blog/4-more-orlando-nightclub-heroes-share-their-courageous-stories?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Man Headed to L.A. Pride Charged for Having Assault Weapon, Explosives

James Wesley Howell could face up to nine years in custody, if convicted. 

www.advocate.com/crime/2016/6/14/bisexual-armed-man-charged-possessing-assault-weapon-explosives

PHOTOS: Salt Lake City Sends Love and Light to Orlando

www.advocate.com/crime/2016/6/14/photos-salt-lake-city-sends-love-and-light-orlando

HRC and GLAAD Leaders in Orlando: 'We're Here for You'

The Advocate spoke to Chad Griffin and Sarah Kate Ellis on the ground about the tragedy in Orlando.

www.advocate.com/people/2016/6/14/hrc-and-glaad-leaders-orlando-were-here-you

Wife Of Orlando Shooter Knew Of His Murderous Plans, Didn’t Warn Police

New details have emerged about Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, who killed at least 49 people and injured 53 more when he opened fire on the gay nightclub Pulse early Sunday morning.

Related: Nick Jonas Accused Of ‘Queer-Baiting’ At New York Vigil For Orlando

According to NBC News, his wife was well aware of his plans to attack the nightclub, tried to talk him out of it, but ultimately didn’t bother to mention the fact to police.

Related: Here Are The Victims Of The Orlando Shooting At Pulse Nightclub

Officials investigating the case claim that Noor, Mateeen’s wife, told the FBI she dashed out with her husband to pick up ammunition and a new holster:

“She told the FBI that she once drove him to the gay nightclub, Pulse, because he wanted to scope it out.”

“Authorities are considering filing criminal charges against Noor for failing to tell them what she knew before the brutal attack, law enforcement officials say, but no decision has been made.”

We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes known.

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