Scott Powers
Florida’s largest LGBT advocacy group Equality Florida is launching a #HonorThemWithAction campaign in advance of the June 12 commemoration of people killed, wounded and affected by the Pulse nightclub massacre.
The effort at this point aims at creating online rallying opportunities for people interested in contributing time and action to the myriad events being planned for June 11 and 12 both in Florida and nationally, and to find ways to unite in resistance to discrimination and hatred of gays, said Equality Florida Public Policy Director Hannah Willard.
Equality of Florida launched a website, honorthemwithaction.org, as a starting point, along with encouraging the use of the hashtag in social media.
It’s also part of an ongoing effort to remind people that Pulse was targeted because it was a gay nightclub, and the night of the massacre was Latin night.
“The Pulse massacre was a shooting in a popular gay nightclub on Latin night in the middle of Pride Month, and the victims were overwhelmingly LGBTQ and Latinx young people,” Willard said in a news release issued by the organization. “We have to name the communities that were attacked, and we must ensure the lasting memorial is the real change of uprooting anti-LGBTQ hatred, discrimination and violence in our culture.”
She and Nadine Smith, Equality of Florida’s executive director, noted that an outpouring of involvement occurred in the days and weeks following the massacre, with more than 850 events around the country. They are seeking to get organizers of those events recommitted, and to help interested people plug in.
A national LGBTQ march is planned for the National Mall in Washington D.C. on June 11, with regional and local marches projected for around the country.
