It's 2:22 a.m. at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Omar Mateen, 29, has already shot over 11 innocent club goers. He is on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, about to say one word that will make this hate crime, different. One word that would remove personal responsibility for the night's massacre. One word that would send America into another state of paranoia. The word "ISIS."
Mateen betrays his own country as he cowardly pledges loyalty ISIS.
50 people were murdered that night and more will be scared for life. But further now Mateen's actions has instilled fear and anxiety, especially LGBT+ people, who are now afraid to attend a gay club or their local pride parade.
We can keep arguing about rather or not this attack was actually planned by ISIS. Mateen claims to have been associated with ISIS and also claimed to have connections other terrorists groups. However we should note that he was born in America, and his parents migrated from Afghanistan. Mateen was also was mentally ill, and had previous problems with law. Mateen's actions have fueled both parties's political agendas. Republicans say we should be scared of ISIS. Democrats say we should be scared of guns. Either way we can't use fear as an excuse to never leave our homes.
With or without ISIS, there is always a chance we could die tomorrow and we can't control some things, it doesn't matter how careful we are. Don't let fear prevent you from going to a club, parade, or even school. Especially this month, June, gay pride month we should bravely stand tall and stand proud to be ourselves.
Just last pride we celebrated a history making event in marriage equality. Now this year we mourn senseless tragedy. We can't let one man's actions scare us into not going to pride or any gay club ever again. The more we hide ourselves, the more we feed the paranoia, the hatred and the close mindedness. #KeepingLoving #KeepKissing
If you wish to help the victims of the Orlando Shooting, donate to Equality Florida:
https://www.gofundme.com/PulseVictimsFund
Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting/
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-shooting-timeline/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/investigation-into-orlando-shooting-continues-no-impending-charges-expected/2016/06/15/c3eccf5e-3333-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html
http://www.activistpost.com/2016/06/5-reasons-to-question-the-official-story-of-the-orlando-shooting.html