Early Sunday morning, a man entered a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida armed with a handgun and an assault rifle. This man, Omar Mateen, killed 49 people and injured 53 more, making this the deadliest mass shooting in American history. As with every other recent mass shooting, messages of “thoughts and prayers” began to permeate social media. Everyone with a Twitter or Facebook will have seen at least one post, someone sharing their sadness and fear, and sending their wishes to the families of victims. Not too long after, however, came a second wave. Thoughts and prayers were drowned out by voices saying that thoughts and prayers aren’t enough. And they aren’t because generic thoughts and prayers erase the specifics of this event.
This was not only a mass shooting. It was a hate crime. The killer entered a gay nightclub, an intended safe space, on it’s Latin night, with the intention to kill the people inside, members of the LGBTQ+ community. Mateen was a homophobe. And he isn’t alone.
Last June, same sex marriage was legalized in the United States and we as a nation celebrated this progress with hugs and rainbow filters and yes, marriage. But too many mistakenly viewed marriage equality as the final step in LGBTQ rights. Since then, state after state has denied trans individuals the freedom and protection to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender. It’s still legal in many states to fire or evict someone for being LGBTQ or deny them the right to visit their partner in the hospital. Even today, in the wake of an event leaving 53 people wounded, Florida blood banks were turning away gay donors because of federal regulations. This shooting was a hate crime. It was the product of a country that still allows legal systems to perpetuate discrimination and foster homophobia.
Omar Mateen, while born in New York, comes from an Afghan family. And while his family has said his actions were not rooted in religious extremism and apologized for his actions, Islamophobes are still using this incident to further their messages of and hatred. This tragedy was born out of intolerance. It is not an opportunity to promote further bigotry, especially as hated has never solved anything. Whether or not Mateen is linked to the Islamic State is not relevant here. What’s relevant is that his actions were motivated by homophobia and do not reflect the values of Islam as a whole.
This was the biggest mass shooting in American history. Before this, the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 and the 32 lives lost held that record. Between Virginia Tech and Orlando lie many, many mass shootings and a sickening death toll. And as always, thoughts and prayers do nothing to change gun control policy. The fact remains that almost anyone can obtain a firearm and that countless people and politicians steadfastly defend their right to do so. America has seen more deaths by firearm and experienced more mass shootings than any other country.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, even powerless, when tragedies like this occur. And it’s natural to want to share the heartache and show support for those who are impacted and we should continue to do this. But thoughts, prayers and rainbow hearts on social media don’t inspire any real change. We have to lobby politicians, make them hear that we won’t stand for the continued ease of obtaining a firearm. We have to push back against discriminatory laws that restrict and persecute LGBTQ communities. And we have to respond to the voices that want to pin this crime on entire religion, who want to use one man’s extremist homophobia to justify their own prejudice. None of us can instantly or single-handedly solve homophobia or Islamophobia or put an end to mass shootings. But the more people who are willing to stand up and become involved, the more powerful our voices become.
