Larry Griffin
The LGBT Center of Central Florida, in the wake of the Pulse Nightclub shooting, was awash Monday morning in a flood of those wishing to help.
People milled in and out bringing food and drink donations, offering to counsel and hug those who needed the touch of another.
One man who called himself Chris C. said he was a frequent performer at Pulse for over seven years now. He moved to Orlando all those years ago and didn’t know a soul, but Pulse welcomed him in.
“They open their doors to everyone,” he said. “They know you by your first name.”
Chris C. said the impact the shooting will make is tremendous.
“Nothing is going to be the same,” he said. “There were a lot of talented, loving, caring community members who died. We lost angels.”
Outside the Center, Brandon Williams and Christie Cruz said they were doing all they could to help — bringing supplies to The Center and simply being more bodies in the fray. Both of them visit Pulse frequently, they said.
“Any club, it’s somewhere you go to be yourself,” Williams said. “You’re able to go and express yourself the way you want to be.”
“I can hold my girlfriend’s hand and not worry about what anyone thinks because we can be true to who we are there,” Cruz said.
Another resident, Thalia Anthony, said gay clubs are safe spaces where she and others in the LGBT community could be themselves.
“No matter what,” she said. “If you’re gay, bisexual or transgender, you can go to these areas and be safe and enjoy your life.”
She called the shooting “a real shock,” but said the community had come together wonderfully and “the outpouring of love is helping it up again.”
“I’m taken by this guy — he was offended by two guys kissing, and he goes to the place where they go to be out of the public eye, to not offend anyone,” she said. “It struck me. He’s complaining that he doesn’t like to see men kissing, but he goes and looks them up.”
Impulse Orlando is a group dedicated to promoting safe sex, and their president, Cory Lyons, was somber in the wake of the shooting. He said he saw an Orlando community emotionally “divided” in the wake of the attacks — while supportive and ready to help, they’re also still very afraid.
“There’s a huge amount of support,” he said. “People who want to help in any way they can. But people are also fearful. They’re afraid of another attack, and that this could happen to anybody.”
Going forward, he said there needed to be more gun control laws enacted. Homophobia, he said, is still a huge problem, and the Pulse shooting only underlines the need to eradicate it in American society.
“We’ve had a lot of wins in this country, in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami,” he said. “Places where there are a lot more of our people. But we need to stand up and make sure it’s not accepted anywhere. We need to accept people for who they are. It’s not a choice, and it’s not something you’re born with. Think of what love is and what it needs to be.”
Meanwhile, going on behind closed doors at The Center continuously through all of this, was therapy. Those affected by the shootings were allowed to come in and get the help they needed and simply talk to another person.
For those interested, The LGBT Center of Central Florida is located at 946 N. Mills Avenue and can be contacted at 407-228-8272.
