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Broderick Lemke

SSCI 408

Responses to the Pulse Shooting

The deadliest mass shooting in American history occurred at the Pulse nightclub in

Orlando, Florida, on June 12th, 2016. This event transpired during LGBTQ+ Pride month and

sent shockwaves through the community as 49 patrons of the LGBTQ+ friendly club were

murdered and many others were injured. This event was a hate crime and act of terrorism, but in

some cases, the responses to the event were even more important than the event itself. Both

positive and negative reactions, ranging from interpersonal to institutional, were brought to light

in the months following the event. The various negative reactions show the ugly truth of

homophobias presence throughout the country and shine light on hidden institutional problems,

but the positive reactions showed a humbling support of the LGBTQ+ community on a local and

national scale. By analyzing reactions to this tragedy, one can achieve a glimpse into the state of

homophobia in the USA as well as various problems and support structures that may have gone

unnoticed before the shooting.

Negative responses to LGBTQ+ related events are often not hard to find. Social media

outlets fill with hate speech hidden behind anonymity or even out in the open, supported by a

culture in which it is acceptable to make prejudiced and hateful statements. One example of this

from the Orlando shooting was a photo posted by a United States Marine in a private Facebook

group. The group is meant for active military men, and is used to ask each other questions and

blow off steam (Cauterucci, 2016). The photo posted was a picture of a serviceman in uniform

with a gun pointed towards the camera with the caption Coming to a gay bar near you!

(Cauterucci, 2016). This event showcases overt interpersonal discrimination, in which an

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individual purposefully attacked a group because of a prejudice (Desmond & Emirbayer, 2009,

p. 25). Similarly, several threats were made towards various gay bars in the United States

(Broverman, 2016). A threat, whether the person was seriously planning on following through or

not, shows a lack of sensitivity towards a group that is suffering and even shows an overt

hostility towards them. Thankfully, police immediately investigated the treats and no additional

attacks took place in the following weeks. In the case of the image posted by the marine, the

image was reported to the groups admin, who saved evidence of the post and then deleted it to

prevent others from seeing it. An investigation by the marines was also launched (Cauterucci,

2016). These responses show that although individuals may pose a threat to the mental or

physical safety of minority groups, in this case there were tools in place and ethically responsible

people to combat individual reactions.

Much harder to combat than individual reactions are organizational reactions.

Organizational discrimination is when an organization perpetuates prejudiced language or

actions, either purposefully or through neglect. Sometimes individuals in the organization do not

know or have control over the actions and language of the organization, such as in the case of

Dennys restaurant. The organization forced employees to follow racially biased protocol when

serving customers (Labaton, 1994). Other times, groups are founded based on principles of bias,

or members of a group share a similar bias which often leads the organization into becoming a

hate group (Fitzgerald, 2014, p. 452). In the case of the Pulse shooting, one example of

organizational discrimination came several months after the shooting in the form of a haunted

house. Tyrone Tappler productions, a Christian haunted house, advertised in August, asking for

actors to recreate the Pulse shooting scene (Golgowski, 2016). This haunted house was shut

down by the building hosting it before the public could see the recreation, but this was an
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example of an organization in which a hateful act was being committed, although not necessarily

everyone involved (actors, people constructing the house, etc.) agreed with the hateful intentions.

A hate group that became involved in the aftermath of the tragedy was the Westboro Baptist

Church, which attempted several demonstrations during the funerals of several victims

(Hernandez, 2016). The group is known for protests in which they raise signs including phrases

such as God Hates Fags, and this tragedy was no exception to their attempted spread of hatred.

In an outstanding show of agency and support, the LGBTQ+ community and allies came

together to form a counter protest (Hernandez, 2016), wearing large outfits that blocked hateful

signs and preventing funeral attendees from seeing and hearing the hatred of this hate group,

giving support to the affected communities. This shows that the community that was threatened

and their allies made their presence known and voices of support heard, and that they would not

sit back silently.

Other religious groups had various messages that they put forth to their congregations

and the world as a whole through online webcasts and social media. While some spread positive

messages, several responses were highly negative, calling for additional violence and relying

heavily on stereotypes. Three separate Baptist churches featured sermons given by pastors that

contained homophobic remarks, including pastors Steven Anderson, Roger Jimenez and Donnie

Romero (Burris, 2016) (Grindley, 2016) (Mandell, 2016). All three sermons shared approval of

the shooting and called homosexual men pedophiles. This is an example of institutional

prejudice, in which an institution, such as government or religion, discriminates against a

minority group (Desmond & Emirbayer, 2009, p. 24). The Baptist church did not denounce these

pastors hateful sermons, nor did they provide ample education to combat homophobia. The

myth that gay men are pedophiles has been disproven by many researchers, but despite this fact,
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all three of the sermons cited the myth as fact (Herek, 2013). Simple education of the pastors and

congregations could clear up these misconceptions, or at least let them know that they are

inappropriate to say and that there would be repercussions for saying them. It is this lack of

education and consequences that moves this beyond an individual problem, but instead looks at

the Baptist religions institution and reveals a deeply rooted presence of homophobia.

A secondary institutional form of discrimination had a spotlight shown on it in the

aftermath of the Pulse shooting, that of the MSM blood ban. The men who have sex with men

(MSM) blood ban was implemented by the FDA in the early years of the AIDS crisis, preventing

any homosexual men from donating blood. Despite a recent change in 2015 change the lifetime

deferral to a one year deferral, many gay men were turned away from donating blood in the Commented [SNA(1]: Not sure what youre saying

aftermath of the tragedy (United, 2015). There was a call for blood after the shooting, and

several stories of the ban being temporarily lifted were circulated around the LGBTQ+

community (Abadsidis, 2016). Many gay men who turned up to help those in their community

that were in danger were turned away, but this brought the issue to public attention. Since this

event, the FDA has begun an open comments period in which they are looking for further

solutions to allow gay men to donate blood safely. This effort to make their policies more

inclusive shows that while some institutions, such as the Baptist Church, do not seek to change

their policies, others are willing to look into less prejudiced solutions.

While some institutions negatively impact LGBTQ+ people, there are many others that

do support this group. Following the tragedy many people were hospitalized, racking up medical

bills that would be hard for anyone to pay, regardless of sexuality. For LGBTQ+ people,

however, it become even more difficult, as access to work and a partners healthcare can be

difficult to obtain due to a lack of anti-discrimination laws (Nadal, 2013, pp. 16-17). The
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hospitals in Orlando were aware of these problems and agreed to waive all charges for the

victims of the attacks (Domonoske, 2016). This shows that the institution of healthcare

recognized a way LGBTQ+ persons were disadvantaged and helped to make sure they could

afford adequate care. Analyzing the inequalities a group faces and aiding in those ways provides

for a great response that shows support of diverse groups.

The OneOrlando Fund provides a great example of a group that was made to assist the

victims but brought to light several issues faced by the community. The fund was created to

provide some monetary support for families of victims of the shooting and for survivors of the

event. Based on donations, the fund was able to donate $350,000 to the family of each person

who died, and while no amount of money could make the loss okay, this provided the support for

families to access mental health care and cover any costs that may have been accrued through

their loved ones death (Santich, 2016a). The issue that this fund uncovered was that a large

number of families of the victims had troubles claiming the money that was owed to them for

various reasons. Partners of the victims may not be entitled to any of the money if there were

members of the victims family who wanted to come forward (Santich, 2016a). Many LGBTQ+

youth are left homeless in their youth, with around 40% of the 1.6 million homeless youth in the

United States of America being LGBTQ+ (Durso & Gates, 2012). This large percentage of

LGBTQ+ homeless youth is drastically higher than the estimated 10% percent of the regular

population LGBTQ+ persons make up. There were several stories of victims who had been

disowned by their family, only to have their estranged parents show up when money was being

offered, despite their lack of involvement in their childs life (Santich, 2016a). Cases of selective

parenting, only becoming involved when it benefits the parent, occur on occasion in the
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LGBTQ+ community, and although it is a problem, it is still important to recognize the great

work that this organization does to provide compensation to the families of the victims.

Just as individuals provided negative responses to the LGBTQ+ community in the wake

of this tragedy, there were many individuals who made positive impacts. It is important to note

that the assailant in the Pulse shooting was Omar Mateen, a Muslim American who pledged his

allegiance to ISIS during the attack. There are many hostilities against Arab Americans,

especially post 9/11, and acts of terrorism often spark anti-Arab American reactions (Ftizgerald,

2014, p. 208). Additionally, minority groups do not often show compassion and understanding

for each other, demonstrated in the spoken word piece Civil Rights by Shanita Jackson and

Dakota Odur (Jackson & Odur, 2012). Because of the anti-Arab responses and intersectionality

between groups, many American Muslims began showing up to blood drives to support victims

following the attack and denouncing the shooters actions (Kuruvilla, 2016). Responses that

acknowledge other groups are suffering and being targeted and attacked in similar ways shows

an attempt of the group to promote equality and to work together at solving inequality. These

responses help to bring the groups together in efforts to create change and provide support.

This tragedy shaped the Orlando community as a whole, and in addition to responses

above in order to process the events that occurred, many turned towards art. In the wake of the

shooting there were two major art shows, one featuring photo journalistic pieces of people

around the world reacting to the news of the shooting, and a second that featured works of art

created by the community using supplies donated by a local shop (Cordeiro, 2016) (Santich,

2016b). Works ranged from the abstract to even some pieces showing the counter-protests

against the Westboro Baptist Church, serving as snapshots into the emotional landscape of the

community. Both of these responses show the local community and world at large reacting and
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served as a way for the community to process their grief over the events. The owner of the club,

Barbara Poma, has her own way of processing the grief from the tragedy. She has been offered a

large amount of money for the site of the original club by Orlando to create a memorial, but she

is not ready to let it go yet (Young, 2016). Instead, she is looking into options to create another

nightclub under the same name in another part of Orlando, letting the legacy of the club live on

despite the tragedy that occurred (P. Barbara, personal communication, December 11, 2016)

(Young, 2016).

These responses, both positive and negative, have had implications that have affected the

LGBTQ+ community. Whether they highlight areas for improvement such as the gay blood ban,

provide cause for concern like hate groups demonstrating, or provide a beacon of hope and

agency such as the counter protests againast the Westboro Baptist Church, these responses will

be remembered alongside the tragedy of the shooting itself. It is impossible to understand the

whole event without looking at how the shooting played out, noting that it was not just one

isolated event but a chain of events and reactions sparked by the initial shooting. The responses

are not over today, and how the nation remembers this event and allows policies and laws to

change will continue for years to come. Many areas for improvement have been exposed after

the shooting, and we as a country must look forward with these in mind in order to change the

social inequalities faced by LGBTQ+ people.

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