#remembering pulse

CREDIT: u/bassistheplace246

"where are all the queer elders? why are so many queer folks young??"

49 of them were gunned down in 2016, in a nightclub that had visible safety code violations. they were gunned down in an act of heinous hatred.

From the video description:

Our movement, which began as #nopulsemuseum and grew into #justice4Pulse is now PULSE FAMILIES AND SURVIVORS FOR JUSTICE. And we are finally being heard.

There is still a lot to be said, a lot to get into further, and justice to be had.... but this is a great start. We have answers for some of the questions asked here and we look forward to providing more answers on our website.

For Pulse Shooting Survivor Stephanie Kersten, Dance Is a Source of Healing

To Stephanie Kersten, dancing is about feeling alive.

It’s about getting lost and getting found — a lifeline, a pulse of energy, a reminder of all the positive energy in the world. She went dancing the night of June 11, 2016, and was at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando around 2:00 a.m. on June 12 when a mass shooting occurred there and transformed the rainbow community forever.

Stephanie was dancing long before that night, and she’s still dancing today. To Stephanie, dancing is more than an art form; it’s movement in search of the stuff that galaxies are made of: power, passion, and resilience in the face of fear.

“When it comes to dance, I’m passionate about how it can be a part of your life forever,” Stephanie tells Teen Vogue, three years after that deadly night. “It allows you to express yourself; to free yourself.”

We interviewed drag queens from Rio Grande Valley, TX to talk about one of the deadliest single day mass shootings to happen in the U.S. at Pulse Nightclub.

Joe and Juan remember the massacre at Pulse Nightclub, what liberation looks like now, and how authenticity saves their lives. 

Visit onepulsefoundation.org to learn more about the memorial and museum dedicated to the lives taken at Pulse Nightclub.

“I went to the Pulse Memorial and it was a perfect snapshot of what this community is. This community made me who I am. I don’t know if I had any real context for what this community meant to me before I went to the memorial. The memorial obviously pays tribute to the tragedy that took place there but there’s pictures of tributes from local colleges, Disney, the Orlando Eye Ferris wheel, so many small things that seem small and in no way connected suddenly were. I grew up here. The shooting wasn’t just an attack at that night club, it was an attack on our community as a whole; queer Orlando.”