PHOTOS: Key West Marches in Solidarity
www.advocate.com/pride/2016/6/14/photos-key-west-marches-solidarity
Daily Archives: June 14, 2016
Stories from the E.R.: Orlando Victims Struggle to Survive (Video)
Stories from the E.R.: Orlando Victims Struggle to Survive (Video)
www.advocate.com/crime/2016/6/14/stories-er-orlando-victims-struggle-survive-video
IMG_5452
CSD, Volksgarten, Graz (AT), 11 June 2016
Champagne Haze
Champagne Haze
jessicajane9 posted a photo:
A quick glass of bubbly before heading out for the night
Students At Oxford University Drown Out Antigay Hate With Music And Love
Students At Oxford University Drown Out Antigay Hate With Music And Love
As the world began to process the terribly sad news that 49 people, mostly gay and many persons of color, were killed as they socialized and danced in Orlando, a fraction of a minority of humanity’s darkest corners thought the opportunity was right to celebrate.
Around the campus of Oxford University in the U.K., some of these unfortunate souls chose to exercise their right to be heard; preachers set up shop on Cornmarket Street in Oxford’s main pedestrian area to cry out to anyone who would listen that the victims of the Orlando attack deserved their fates because of who they were.
But if there’s one positive takeaway from the days following this devastating loss, it’s that love trumps hate, always.
It didn’t take long for word to spread around the college town, and counter-protesters showed up in droves to drown out the hate with hope. What was the scene of vitriol and fear became one of music and love.
Jack Remmington (above left, posing in front of his new best friend), a participant in the impromptu demonstration, tells Queerty, “There were four of five of them — a couple of Americans, a Scot and a Brit I think. They had microphones and placards. We became aware as word spread and people posted photos. There were then opposition demonstrations from queers with accordions and trumpets to drown them out.”
That was enough to get the preachers to leave their first position.
“They moved location due to the small protest so a group and I walked over to where we thought they would be and I suggested we all sit on the steps where they were speaking,” Remmington explains. “We then began singing some songs like ‘Don’t Stop Believing,’ ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ and ‘Wonderwall.’ I also shared a photo of us dancing with the location so others could come and join. I would say eventually over one hundred people were involved, and it steadily grew as word spread around Oxford.”
Too often the fervent and fearful, whose numbers pale in comparison to everyone else trying to live their peaceful lives in pursuit of connection, suck up all the oxygen in the room by virtue of their seemingly bottomless well of passion. It’s nice to see the equation flip.
Nick Jonas Accused Of ‘Queer-Baiting’ At New York Vigil For Orlando
Nick Jonas Accused Of ‘Queer-Baiting’ At New York Vigil For Orlando
He’s performed at Pittsburgh Pride, made several shirtless appearances at gay clubs, acted all sultry-like in the occasional gay sex scene, and claimed he’d be “lying” if he said he’d never had sex with men. A handful of editorials published today pointedly suggest Nick Jonas‘ “queer-baiting” hit a fever pitch with his speech at New York’s vigil for the victims of Orlando on Monday night.
Related: Nick Jonas Doesn’t Deny Hooking Up With Guys; Hope Is Alive.
Op-eds from the likes of Huffington Post and Bullett claim his very appearance at the event was nothing but part of a publicity blitz for his new album Last Year Was Complicated, which dropped three days ago.
Related: New Doc Finds Nick Jonas In His Birthday Suit Acting Sheepish In The Shower
In a column titled “Dear Nick Jonas, There’s A Way To Be A Straight Ally. That Wasn’t It,” The Huffington Post‘s Queer Voices deputy editor JamesMichael Nichols writes:
I don’t want to draw too many conclusions about Jonas’ and his team’s intention with this aggressive “queerbaiting.” But one thing is certain: this is not a time for straight allies to take up space — especially if you’re an ally who just dropped an album three days ago.
Now is a time when we, as a community, are mourning the loss of 49 queer and trans brothers and sisters, many of them people of color.
Writing for Bullett, Justin Moran shared a similar sentiment:
You could make the weak argument, here, about the importance of allies like Jonas, but this vigil was in response to a LGBTQ hate crime—the biggest mass shooting in American history—which took place during a latinx night. So having the archetypal all-American Jonas stand before us and express how he’s “humbled” and “grew up on Broadway” was a total insult to the brilliant minds of those we lost—the survivors who have to now live with horrific memories.
Several attendees took to Twitter last night to voice similarly disparaging opinions about Jonas’ appearance:
Y’all will literally let a straight white man take center stage over the graves of queer latino victims before letting QPOC have the floor.
— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) June 14, 2016
Nick Jonas is speaking at the Stonewall Vigil? Part of being a good ally is knowing when to yield your platform for real LGBTQ people
— Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) June 14, 2016
Nick Jonas spoke at the Stonewall Inn vigil b/c he’s SO passionate about queer equality but his feed is mostly about his new album. Hmm.
— jayson flores (@gayonabudget) June 14, 2016
Ah yes you know who we need to speak at stonewall it’s queerbaiting Nick Jonas what a great ally his words are so important
— John J. Salomone (@DudeNdaEaseOnUp) June 14, 2016
People asking why Nick Jonas officiating at Stonewall is an issue. pic.twitter.com/XRVnvBlXm0
— Sid (@Sidderz) June 14, 2016
CNN: the Stonewall Inn will host a vig—
Nick Jonas: pic.twitter.com/JwCBkWzm0H— Jon (@octojon) June 14, 2016
Nick Jonas officiating Stonewall vigil shows how much we need an increase in representation + celebration of LGBTQ people within the media.
— Harry Clayton-Wright (@HClaytonWright) June 14, 2016
the lack of out & proud gay celebs that led nick jonas to speak at stonewall is a symptom ofthe same illness that produced a closeted gunman
— ortuist (@ortuist) June 14, 2016
At stonewall. Gov. Cuomo spoke then Nick Jonas took the stage. LGBT crowd is pissed. When do our people speak?
— Mary Emily O’Hara (@MaryEmilyOHara) June 13, 2016
Why the fuck is @nickjonas speaking at the Vigil for Orlando at Stonewall??? Could they not find a famous gay person??? In NYC????
— Sam Branman (@blamsamran) June 13, 2016
Why is gay baiter nick jonas at the stonewall vigil?
— Gabe Gonzalez (@gaybonez) June 13, 2016
Nick Jonas threw the first brick at Stonewall.
— Alex Hubbard (@hellohubbard) June 13, 2016
literal groan as Nick Jonas was announced as the next speaker at Stonewall #SayTheirNames chants
— E. Alex Jung (@e_alexjung) June 13, 2016
Orlando Shooting Survivors Speak Out and Share Their Stories: WATCH LIVE
Orlando Shooting Survivors Speak Out and Share Their Stories: WATCH LIVE
Happening now, survivors of the mass shooting at Orlando gay nightclub Pulse are speaking to the media.
Watch a live video courtesy of PBS Newshour, below.
The post Orlando Shooting Survivors Speak Out and Share Their Stories: WATCH LIVE appeared first on Towleroad.
Wife of Orlando Shooter Says She Knew He Was Planning Attack, Tried to ‘Talk Him Out Of It’ – VIDEO
Wife of Orlando Shooter Says She Knew He Was Planning Attack, Tried to ‘Talk Him Out Of It’ – VIDEO
The wife of the shooter who killed 49 people at the Orlando gay nightclub Pulse early Sunday morning reportedly knew her husband was planning an attack on the club and ‘tried to talk him out of it.’
Omar Mateen’s current wife, Noor, told the FBI she was with him when he bought ammunition and a holster, several officials familiar with the case said. She told the FBI that she once drove him to the gay nightclub, Pulse, because he wanted to scope it out. […]
She is cooperating with investigators, several officials say.
Federal authorities are currently considering charging Noor Salman for failing to notify authorities about her husband’s plans for mass murder.
Noor’s revelation that she drove her husband to Pulse to “scope out” the location raises more questions about reports that suggest Mateen was gay, had profiles on gay dating apps, and frequented the club he would ultimately target.
Watch a news report from NBC on Noor, below.
And another report from WSVN 7 News, here:
#DEVELOPING: Orlando gunman’s wife tried talking him out of attack, according to NBC News t.co/drDPyH2iRk t.co/11zYm4V9rE
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) June 14, 2016
The post Wife of Orlando Shooter Says She Knew He Was Planning Attack, Tried to ‘Talk Him Out Of It’ – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.
What Does #StopTheHate Really Mean? — Sarah Schulman on Orlando
What Does #StopTheHate Really Mean? — Sarah Schulman on Orlando
The patterns of U.S. mass killings show that any group of people are vulnerable: Latino queers in a club, Black church goers, little kids in grade school, people in the movies, high school students, co-workers at a Christmas party. What can we conclude?
While race, sexuality etc. are important in specific choices of victims, the larger reality is that gun availability, fear of identifying mental illness, and rhetoric normalizing violence are the problems. And since the killers are almost all men, there is a lot of thinking to do about male concepts of control. But escalating policing that is already too violent, condemning larger communities of humans, or projecting that we should walk around in fear of strangers, is the opposite of where we should be going. Yet, these terrifying, brutal killings in Orlando have been exploited along many divergent ideological lines, underscoring opposing agendas in ways that do not address the real source of our pain.
The most blatant exploitation of these deaths is by people who dehumanize Muslims.
Voices in all political corners have positioned the killer as an instrument of Islamic fundamentalist movements, or representative of religious extremism. Yet there is no evidence to date that he was recruited, financed, organized, encouraged or supported by any known organized entity. His own claims to affiliation have been contradictory and confused. While reportedly he called 911 and proclaimed himself associated with ISIS, in the past he claimed affiliation with Hezbollah, ISIS’s bitter enemy, and even Al Qaeda.
Like most of the other men who have committed mass murder with legally purchased weapons, this killer was an American, whose penchant for NYPD t-shirts revealed a glorification of domination, and who carried out a distinctly American tradition of pointless gun violence.
The second, and more complex myth that has arisen around this tragedy is that the LGBT community is threatened or under siege.
While, clearly, the 49 men and women murdered in Orlando were killed because they were gay or in a gay space, in the context of legislative attacks in the US south, this was not part of any organized campaign to kill us by a cohered group. Just as the killings in Charleston were not an organized campaign against Black people who go to church, the dead are devastating, evocative, personally resonant, and trigger all kinds of fears and losses for the rest of us.
But there is nothing here beyond one very anxious, angry, conflicted, confused person who could not figure out how to live, and was able to get a gun. If he had not been able to get weapons, these killings would not have occurred. And while the statements of support and solidarity recognize the profound bonds queer people feel with each other, how we identify with each other, any rhetoric about us being in a collective danger from organized shooters is inflated.
What is dangerous here, is that the exaggerated threat becomes a vibrant excuse to increase police surveillance of both LGBT and Muslim communities, spaces, conversations. The false charge that these killings were Islamic, and the exaggerated sense of fear that LGBT people are expressing create a climate in which the police can escalate their reach into the lives of the people. And we know from vast experience that more policing means more violence towards people of color.
We do not have a policing system that is accountable to people with mitigated rights, who face social prejudice. So, increasing police presence is not a functional alternative to gun control and transforming our attitudes about mental illness. In fact, history shows it will cause more harm.
As a result, statements like #StopTheHate really require a thoughtful conversation. Whose “hate” are we trying to stop? Can we honestly say that Omar Mateen “hated” queer people, when evidence showed that he may have been one himself, or at least that he had a history of socializing with us. If he was in fact, agonizing over his own queerness, that may be a consequence of his personal context and painful exterior cruelties. He may have internalized these conflicts through the lens of his own distorted thinking/mental illness.
Over and over again, in every realm of human relationship, we see people, cliques, families, nations, religious/ethnic/racial groups project their anxieties onto other people. The most salient dynamic in intimate and geopolitical conflict is when we scapegoat other people, rather than face ourselves.
If he found being queer unbearable, where did that guilt and rage originate? The man had a history of violence and of threatening violence: to his wife, to co-workers, and he expressed anger and destructive thoughts about blacks, gays, Jews and women repeatedly over the years.
When we say #StopTheHate, do we really mean raising our individual and group commitment to helping each other address mental illness without stigma or punishment? Isn’t that the best way to avoid these very painful kinds of projections and exteriorizing of internal suffering?
Because, since there is no organized campaign at the root of these senseless killings, since this is not ISIS, since there is no reason for more police outside of gay bars, what is this really? It’s a very confused and angry man, who no one intervened to help, who murdered 49 people for no reason, simply because he was able to buy a gun. And the stark simplicity of those facts may be the hardest thing of all to bear.
Sarah Schulman is a writer living in New York City. Her most recent novel is The Cosmopolitans. Forthcoming in October is her new nonfiction book Conflict Is Not Abuse.
The post What Does #StopTheHate Really Mean? — Sarah Schulman on Orlando appeared first on Towleroad.
