FREE 🇵🇸🇨🇩🇦🇲

Now that that's out of the way...

The following was written by Pulse Families and Survivors for Justice, formerly known as the Community Coalition Agaisnt a Pulse Museum, who are a grassroots collective of those both directly and indirectly impacted by the mass shooting. The collective was established in 2019 when it was found out that the nightclub owner, Barbara Poma, established the OnePULSE Foundation and planned to build a $45M memorial museum campus. Instead, she and the city of Orlando exploited and defrauded the city's queer community. This is their story:

The PULSE Nightclub has now been demolished.

For those of us who have been vocal about the importance of that building, this moment carries real consequences — not just emotionally, but legally and historically. We had been documenting the unpermitted renovations and code violations still visible within the structure, work that was essential on multiple levels: to expose the City of Orlando's regulatory failures and cover-up, to put on record the PULSE owners' negligence and compliance failures, and above all, to serve justice.

That last point cannot be overstated.

The lawyers representing victims' families and survivors in an ongoing premises liability lawsuit against the PULSE owners — a lawsuit that, for reasons worth scrutinizing, has faded to the background and been largely ignored by local corporate media — sought an emergency injunction to stop the demolition (see file below). Their goal was straightforward: preserve physical evidence ahead of an upcoming jury trial. The judge, however, had issues with the process.

Notably, City Attorney Mayanne Downs reached out directly to the judge in that case — putting the City's finger on the scales of justice.

We would not have known about this communication had the judge not mentioned her email in his ruling. This is because Ms. Downs used her private email with her law firm DownsAaron, instead of her public City of Orlando email, despite this being official City business.

Back in 2019, when we discovered Ms. Downs was using her GrayRobinson email, concealing PULSE records, we asked her to stop doing using her private emails to conduct official City business for public transparency.

Her recent email to the bench shows that, years later, she has not complied with our request.

A Property With a Troubled Chain of Title

This lawsuit does not exist in a vacuum. Victims' families and survivors have alleged that the nightclub property's ownership is itself under question — that it was illegally transferred to two LLCs in the aftermath of the shooting to shield the asset from victims and survivors pursuing legal action.

The City of Orlando knew this. And it purchased the property anyway.

In doing so, the City took control of both the real estate and the narrative. What has followed is exactly what that kind of institutional control looks like in practice: an onslaught of press releases, a carefully managed public relations drip campaign, and the deliberate use of PULSE to build Orlando's brand as a "resilient community" — a brand that purposely ignores the City's own failures, abuses, and lack of accountability.

The Promise of Transparency — And the Reality

The City of Orlando has promised transparency. That is not what we are getting.

We have formally requested that the City publish updated memorial budgets and itemized expense reports — so the public can see how much is being spent on memorial construction, track expenditures in real time, understand who is being paid and how much, and determine whether the project is on track to meet or exceed its $12 million budget.

Remember, this is taxpayer money that is funding this project. Not donations, as the City was not able to raise funds as it had thought it would.

Instead, to access this information, the public is required to navigate the City's Public Records department — a process known for its delays and associated fees. This is not transparency. Transparency means accessible, timely, proactive disclosure. Timeliness is not a courtesy; it is foundational to both accountability and trust. For the past ten years, the City of Orlando has not provided it.

We need the ability to track the City's PULSE memorial expenses in real time. Anything less is a failure of the public trust.

The Rainbow: Mockery Dressed as Spiritual Symbolism

When the City of Orlando released photos and video footage of the PULSE demolition to the media, it included imagery of construction crews using a hose to create a rainbow effect as water sprayed across the building being torn down.

To those outside the PULSE community, this may have seemed like a lighthearted or even poignant moment. It was neither.

The rainbow is not a prop. For the PULSE-affected community, the rainbow carries deep spiritual and symbolic weight. A natural rainbow appeared over PULSE and other remembrance events in the years since the shooting, carrying profound spiritual meaning — a sign, a presence, a moment of connection to those who were lost.

What the City staged — and it was staged, captured, and distributed to media — was a manufactured imitation of something sacred.

It reduced a symbol of spiritual significance to a marketing opportunity for the City as it demolished the PULSE building. This was not a tribute. It was a mockery. And the fact that it was packaged and sent to local media as a feel-good image in the midst of destroying a crime scene speaks to exactly the kind of institutional tone-deafness — or worse, calculated image management — that this community has endured for nearly a decade at the hands of the City of Orlando.

These Are Public Records. They Belong to You.

The City documented the demolition of PULSE for what it described as "archival purposes."

The City's video footage and photographs were paid for by taxpayers. And yet, rather than releasing them to the public, the City has only sent them to the media for its own branding and marketing purposes — apparently reserving public viewing for future display at the proposed Visitor Pavilion, which the City intends to build for tourists at the planned memorial site.

Yes, publicly funded recordings of the destruction of a mass shooting site, withheld from the public so they can be curated and exhibited on the City's terms, for the City's memorial, to serve the City's narrative and future marketing purposes.

We are releasing these images and videos to the public for widespread use. These are public records. They belong to everyone. They are not the City's story to tell alone — and they are not to be locked away until Orlando is ready to present its preferred version of history to visitors.

You can download them here: [1] [2]

We deserve accountability, not a brand.

We deserve evidence, not erasure.

We deserve a city that serves us — not one that uses our tragedy to serve itself.

We will continue to report on the premises liability lawsuit, the memorial budget, and the City's PULSE memorial. If you have information to share, please reach out.

And because of this, the families and survivors are asking Senator Carlos G. Smith (D-District 17, FL) for help in establishing an independent investigative PULSE commission, just as there was one made for Parkland after that mass shooting.

If you wish to help, you can contact Sen. Smith using the information below:

Here is the request that PULSE Families sent, for reference:

Dear Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith,

We are writing to respectfully ask on this sacred week that you lead legislation establishing an independent commission to comprehensively review the failures surrounding the PULSE nightclub, the shooting response, the aftermath, and the actions of the onePULSE Foundation.

As Florida’s first openly LGBTQ+ Latino state senator and a person that some of us knew prior to the shooting and your election into public office, your leadership on this issue would carry profound significance across the country. The LGBTQ+ community deserves more than symbolic remembrance and rainbow washing. It deserves truth, transparency, and the courage to confront institutional failures honestly that have directly impacted our LGBTQ+ community.

When you first ran for State Representative in District 49, your campaign slogan was “District 49 for the 49”—a promise that you would fight for us, the victims, survivors, and families of the Pulse tragedy. Now, as a State Senator, you are in a position to help fulfill that promise by leading the effort to establish an independent commission and pursue the accountability that families and survivors have sought for nearly a decade.

We urge you to sponsor legislation to establish an independent PULSE commission during the upcoming legislative session.

After a decade of providing evidence to law enforcement agencies and filing formal complaints, our families and survivors continue to request transparency, accountability, and an honest public record. While problematic reports and reviews have been published over the years, there has never been an independent investigation into these unresolved issues, despite substantial and mounting evidence that some of these could result in criminal violations.

A legislatively authorized commission with the scope and authority necessary to investigate the totality of what occurred—during and after the June 12, 2016 shooting—would resolve the investigatory failures that we have seen play out in the City of Orlando for the past decade. It would provide the public and the victims’ families and survivors with clarity when so many of the facts have been concealed and obscured by City officials through inconsistent public statements, the illegal withholding of public records, selective disclosures, and false/misleading narratives.

Such a commission would mirror the model established following the Parkland shooting through the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. That process created a formal mechanism to investigate systemic failures, preserve records, hear testimony, and make findings and recommendations independent of local political pressures. 

A similar commission for PULSE would examine these important issues:

Law enforcement and emergency response failures, including the failure to follow Active Shooter Protocol and the failure of not having an Active Shooter/Assailant Policy; Building, zoning, and fire code enforcement issues, including allegations of preferential treatment and selective enforcement by the City of Orlando, evidence of overcrowding at PULSE and illegal renovations and blocked exits that hindered escape and rescue, and Conditional Use Permit violations. The long-term handling of public records and transparency concerns (City of Orlando and Orange County Sheriff’s Office under former OPD Police Chief John Mina); The role, finances, governance, and public representations of the onePULSE Foundation; The misuse of donations and taxpayer money by the onePULSE Foundation and the City of Orlando; The role of public institutions in interfering with investigations and spreading false information to the public, including the alleged secret removal of a bullet that was never taken into evidence from the PULSE Nightclub by Pamela Schwartz—former Executive Director of the Orange County Regional History Center. Real estate transactions involving Barbara and Rosario Poma, the City of Orlando, Craig Mateer, the onePULSE Foundation, and the involvement of City officials, along with alleged real estate fraud.

For many of us, the absence of an independent review has prolonged injustice, sown distrust, and left questions unresolved. Accountability and historical accuracy are not acts of division; they are necessary components of public trust, institutional learning, and justice for those directly impacted.

Thank you for your consideration. We welcome the opportunity to discuss this further or provide additional documentation and research supporting the need for such a commission.

Attached is the legislation that created the Parkland Commission.

Sincerely, PULSE Families and Survivors for Justice VictimsFirst

Of course, once more... it is important to note that the individuals mentioned (Barbara Poma, the Orlando City Council, etc.) are not the only ones involved in making this state an unsafe place for its queer community. I mean, they play pretty big parts (especially those government officials, as the Office of the State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial District DENIED pursuing involuntary manslaughter charges despite the overwhelming proof of the failed building code directly resulting in several preventable deaths that night), but...

That is just the tip of the iceberg, because if you’ve been active in your advocacy for the community (or at the very least, following me for a decent period of time)… Then you know just how unsafe Florida has become.

You know how, even under the Biden administration, people like Governor Ron DeSantis have gone unchallenged in their writing and enforcement of vile legislation. You know how this legislation has begun creeping its way up to the top, to the federal level, and remained unchallenged the whole way up.

And you know that the complacency of the Democratic party's most popular names (ex: Gavin Newsome) in allowing queer (and especially trans) politics to become a matter of "debate" has only made things so. Much. Worse. Especially when literal Nazis are being endorsed as the ideal candidate (ex: Graham Platner).