Turning Shock and Grief for Orlando into Action

We added another entry to the list of places that tell a uniquely American story of grief by simply saying a name: Orlando. And in much the same way that our nation has been forced to react to similar acts of mass murder by perpetrators armed with a guns, we have resumed a familiar collective script: Shock and grief, thoughts and prayers, and calls to action to address gun violence. Which is then followed in short order by political obfuscation by the gun lobby, diversion to other issues, and a maddening sense that there is nothing that can be done in the current political environment.

This weekend it was the LGBT community, in particular the Latino LGBT community, targeted for mass violence by a well-armed shooter. If nationwide marriage equality was ever seen as the end of the fight for full equality for this community, that idea was shattered along with the 49 lives lost in the Pulse Nightclub. And this tragedy did not occur in a vacuum.