We Are Orlando

In Honor of the Orlando Victims: Live Life Profoundly

By Nicholas Snow

In the very early morning hours of Sunday, June 12^th, I was still awake in Palm Springs, in bed in the dark, alone, scrolling through my Facebook feed on my smart phone, procrastinating about going to sleep.  I was about to turn my phone off when I saw a breaking news story in my feed about a reported shooting in a gay bar in Orlando, Florida.  There were no details about the magnitude of the shooting at this point, so off to sleep I went.

Upon waking later that morning, I turned on my phone (I power it down when sleeping) and was stunned at the news of the magnitude of what had happened.  I was switching between MSNBC and CNN as I usually do during breaking news, and happened on the major networks also reporting the story live, preempting the usual Sunday programming.  Surreal it seemed, then and now.

Around 11:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, President Obama addressed the nation:

“Today, as Americans, we grieve the brutal murder — a horrific massacre — of dozens of innocent people.  We pray for their families, who are grasping for answers with broken hearts.  We stand with the people of Orlando, who have endured a terrible attack on their city.  Although it’s still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate.  And as Americans, we are united in grief, in outrage, and in resolve to defend our people,” said the President.

He went on to say, “This is an especially heartbreaking day for all our friends — our fellow Americans — who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.  The shooter targeted a nightclub where people came together to be with friends, to dance and to sing, and to live.  The place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub — it is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil rights.”

In the late morning news broke of a local vigil that would take place on Arenas Road in downtown Palm Springs, the street in my community that has the most concentrated number of LGBT businesses and clubs that are more similar than dissimilar to Pulse Nightclub.

At the end of the day, hundreds of people, including religious, civic and community leaders converged at the vigil.  I broadcast live, via Facebook, for about an hour and 15 minutes, during which I happened upon, met, and interviewed a man holding a cardboard sign memorializing one of those lost, Eddie Sotomayor.  Rick Orona and his husband and many of their friends had recently met and become endeared to Eddie on a cruise to Cuba.  On the other side of the country, a man was mourning his friend.

This night and those that followed, in cities throughout the world, thousands upon thousands of people gathered including, as reported by The Rachel Maddox Show, in New York City outside the Stonewall Inn (since announced as a National Monument); outside the Performing Arts Center in Orlando, and at a local Muslim center as well; in Boston, Massachusetts; Buffalo New York; Charleston, South Carolina; Burlington, Vermont; on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.

And thousands of people gathered in London, laid flowers in Berlin, and also mourned in Istanbul, Warsaw, Sydney, Santiago, Hong Kong, Saul Paulo, Madrid, Guatemala City, Bangkok, and in Paris where the Eifel Tower was lit up in rainbow colors.

Days after the shooting, many news outlets echoed this report from EW.com: “Standing blocks away from Pulse, the site of the Orlando massacre nearly two days earlier, Anderson Cooper fought back tears Monday while reporting live on CNN.

One week after the shooting, as reported by NBC.com, “throngs of people packed onto the banks of Lake Eola, near downtown Orlando, holding signs with messages like ‘Love always conquers hate’ and ‘Free hugs.’ It was a staggering display of support punctuated by a moment of silence, a rainbow and tens of thousands of attendees, each holding his or her own lighted candle,” writes Tim Stelloh. In California, numerous vigils have taken place, including in Palm Springs, San Diego, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, and San Francisco.

I don’t know anyone in my world that isn’t personally experiencing deep sorrow at what happened, and most of us did not even know the 49 people who lost their lives, or the almost equal number of people injured in the shooting.  I simply can’t imagine what it is like for the actual friends and family members of those lost.

Lady Gaga, at the Los Angeles vigil, fought back tears saying, “I hope you know that myself and so many are your allies. Not only me, but everyone here. We represent the compassion and the loyalty of millions of people around the world that believe in you. You are not alone. You are not alone.”

President Obama reminded us, “We’ll learn about the victims of this tragedy.  Their names.  Their faces.  Who they were.  The joy that they brought to families and to friends and the difference that they made in this world.”

I have made it a point to learn more about the victims.  One of the more poignant opportunities to do so, a powerful video produced by Ryan Murphy, featuring 49 stars telling us about the 49 victims. Explains The Hollywood Reporter, “The list of familiar faces that then showed up to participate in the project is formidable. Chris Pine, Laverne Cox, Cuba Gooding Jr., Connie Britton, Caitlyn Jenner, Matt Bomer and Angela Bassett make up just a sliver of the individuals who paid visit to the somber set.”

Find the video on the Human Rights Campaign YouTube channel, or if you’re reading this online, at this link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq6xRZlCSoM).

I know many of us are in fact taking the time to get to know, remember, and honor, the victims. Another powerful way of doing so, Google “Terror in Orlando The Victims” to find an interactive website CNN has created where you may click on names to learn more.  Click on Edward Sotomayor, Jr. and you’ll learn he “loved traveling, making new friends and black hats. ‘Eddie was one sweetheart and I will miss talking and working with him. That smile and top hat is burned in my memory,’ Nikki St. James posted.” Link:  http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/06/us/orlando-attack-victims/)

Let’s all live life more profoundly in honor of ALL the victims. In the words of President Obama, “Say a prayer for them and say a prayer for their families — that God give them the strength to bear the unbearable…We need to demonstrate that we are defined more — as a country — by the way they lived their lives than by the hate of the man who took them from us.”

For the entire video coverage of the Palm Springs vigil, visit www.PromoHomo.TV.