Honor them with action.
It’s a rallying cry in the LGBTQ community one year after the Pulse Night Club tragedy, one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
Forty-nine dead.
Killed in a gay nightclub, a safe space, a place where they could be free to be themselves.
As solemn bells toll 49 times in churches from Orlando to South Florida, local LGBTQ advocates say it’s not enough to remember that this horror happened.
To truly honor the lives lost that day, they say it’ll mean fighting systemic issues that continue to rob LGBTQ individuals of their rights and the possibility to live safely and with dignity.
“We need to stay strong and stay united and support one another,” said Jazz Jennings, a transgender teen and community activist. “It’s dangerous every single day.”
Transgender women, especially trans women of color, face high rates of violence, poverty and homelessness.
According to a 2015 survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality, 29 percent of trans people live in poverty, compared to 14 percent of the general population.
“The LGBT community has suffered decades of intolerance, violence, and repression,” said Florida Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch, who serves as vice chair of the congressional LGBT Equality Caucus.
In a statement about the Pulse anniversary, he noted there has been a lack of action among his colleagues in Congress to address gun control.
“We must act on sensible gun safety legislation; moments of silence alone do nothing to prevent future attacks,” said Deutch. “ And unfortunately, there has been too much silence coming from the halls of Congress.”
After the Pulse massacre, LGBTQ organizations rallied to take on the topic of gun control. The Human Rights Campaign adopted a resolution that declared, “ the safety of LGBTQ people in the United States requires the adoption of common-sense gun violence prevention measures.”
At a unity rally in Fort Lauderdale leading up to the Pulse anniversary, Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, public education director for Freedom For All Americans, said discrimination of all forms is a top concern in the current political climate.
“We need to increase acceptance,” he said.
And in remembering the 49 lives lost at Pulse, he added, we need to honor them with action.
