I woke up Sunday, June 12, 2016, like I did every morning. The first thing I did was check my phone, and see a CNN News update that informs me of a mass shooting, that was deadlier than any shooting in U.S. history.
For the next couple of hours and for the days following, the stories start flooding in. The shooter pledged allegiance to ISIS, he was homophobic, he used this gun, etc. The amount of information on the internet is overwhelming, and everyone seems to have an opinion about what happened or what could have been done to prevent it from happening.
This happens after every mass shooting. We focus on the guns, the shooter, the motive, and in most cases mourn the victims, but in the case of the Orlando shooting I found that this was lacking in some cases. I generally see lists of victims names, collages of pictures, etc. as soon as they are available and I honestly haven't seen much of that since the shooting. Sadly, what I've seen is more people persecuting Muslims for committing terrorist attacks rather than sympathy for the LGBTQ+ community after this tragic act of hate towards them.
Don't get me wrong, I'm generalizing the things I've been seeing on social media, but only because I feel like this is something that needs to be talked about. 49 people of the LGBTQ+ community were just outwardly targeted at a place where they went to seek haven from societies judgement. Many people in this community grow up living in fear of being who they actually are, and nightclubs such as Pulse allowed them to express themselves without having to worry about someone hating them for who they love. The shooter took somewhere that was a safe place for this community, and turned it into a nightmare.
So here's what I'm asking. Stop for a second. Stop giving the shooter all of the attention, he doesn't deserve it. He was a man filled with hatred, and you're justifying his hatred by claiming his attack had any other motive but to hurt the LGBTQ+ community. Stop questioning his motives and start seeing this shooting for what it was: an act of hate. Stop worrying about guns and start worrying about the people who were killed. This crime reaches further than just those who were at Pulse that night. The members of the LGBTG+ community are feeling the hatred from this act all around the world. Ask them how they are handling it, and if you can do anything to help them. Don't belittle them by taking the focus away from the victims, this tragedy belongs to them and they are feeling it.
