Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida, at a nightclub called Pulse, a terrorist went on a mass shooting and wounded 53, and killing 50 including himself. According to CNN, this was the deadliest incident of violence against the LGBT community in the U.S., as well as the largest mass killing of LGBT people since the Holocaust.
The gay nightclub, Pulse, was hosting Latin Night, which is something the club hosts weekly which draws a large Latin community. That night, roughly 320 people were inside. Around 2 a.m., Omar Mateen, went inside this club with a SIG Sauer MCX semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm Glock 17 handgun. Mateen was successful in injuring and killing a lot of people during the three-hour shooting. At 5:53 a.m., the police confirmed that Mateen was dead.
Everyone who loves Chick-fil-A knows that the restaurant is not open on Sunday mornings. After this tragic event, some Chick-fil-A restaurants in Orlando opened their doors to help those in need. According to Lindsey Maynard, who is the store director at a Chick-fil-A on University Boulevard, team members volunteered their time to prepare food for first responders and those who were waiting in line to donate blood to help those who were wounded in the attack.
This was something big for Chick-fil-A to do, especially because in 2012, they had a big upset regarding the LGBT community when CEO Dan Cathy spoke out against gay marriage. Spokeswoman Carrie Kurlander stated, “The events in Orlando stirred our local restaurant owners and their teams to band together to provide nourishment to first responders as well as volunteers who donated blood. We do not think this requires any recognition. It is the least we can do in this community we love.”
This event was definitely a tragedy and will forever remain in our hearts, but if you blame all Muslims, or anyone’s religion, you are part of the problem. If you blame the LGBT community, you are part of the problem. If you blame someone’s skin color, you are part of the problem. If you blame Obama, you are part of the problem. If you blame gun laws, you are part of the problem.
I am and have been part of the problem. We are all part of this problem.
We all feed into this hatred and passive aggressiveness of pointing fingers and blame. It’s his fault. It’s your fault. It’s their fault. This is the world that we made. A man is not a bad person because of the way they were born. A woman is not a bad person because of who she loves. We are not bad people for having faith in a God, any God. We become bad people when we hate and we teach hate and we breed it, like weeds, in our backyard. When we let it grow, we don’t cut it down, it over takes us all and feeds on us until it consumes us.
Omar Mateen let his hate consume him. His hate grew so large, he let it grow beyond himself, and he murdered innocent people. He let it grow so much, he joined an extremist group that is hell-bent on spreading hate and manipulating us all. They are winning because we are all pointing fingers at each other. Just stop!
The shooting didn’t happen because they were gay. It didn’t happen because we don’t have strict enough gun laws. It didn’t happen because Muslims believe in Allah. It didn’t happen because Obama is our president. It happened because Omar Mateen was a horrible human being who thought he was better than anyone else who became a terrorist. Period. End of story.
Bad people do bad things all the time. Since the beginning of time. And, if we were better mothers and fathers and sisters and brother, we’d start teaching each other that it’s better to love one another than to fear and hate what we don’t understand. Stop punishing innocent people for the horrible acts of one person or a group of radical people. It’s that simple!
What happened to the LGBT community that night was something that will never be forgotten. It is something that not only impacted the LGBTs, but also all of America. To the families and friends of those who lost their lives, I am deeply sorry for your loss and will continue to pray for you all. God bless America!
