What They Left Behind: Orlando's Pulse Shooting Memorial

www.advocate.com/crime/2016/6/15/what-they-left-behind-orlandos-pulse-shooting-memorial

Oil Spill Documentary Reveals Voice, Twisted Perspective of Orlando Killer (Video)

When Omar Mateen was a securty guard at a BP cleanup site, he sid he believed the people he worked for people wanted more oil to spill to create jobs and make money.

www.advocate.com/crime/2016/6/16/oil-spill-documentary-reveals-voice-twisted-perspective-orlando-killer-video

Atlanta Man Says He’ll Turn Two Local Gay Bars Into “The Next Orlando”

An Atlanta man is currently being investigated after tweeting that he could make two local gays bars into “the next Orlando.”

Related: Man Arrested After Vowing To ‘Come Back Orlando Style’ To ‘Take His 50’ At NY Queer Bar

The GA Voice reports that Brett Edgerton, a gay man, wrote: “TEN or Blake’s could be the next Orlando. You think I am the type to be the next ‘shooter’? Keep hating me then…”

Related: GOP Lawmaker’s Theory On Orlando Gay Club Pulse: It Isn’t A Gay Club At All

A previous tweet simply said, “You are all dead to me,” and his Twitter account’s headline (handle @BrettTEdgerton) read: “I will be the last person you will see.”

The account has now been taken down, but hundreds of people in the Atlanta community shared his tweets on Tuesday before the police ultimately got involved.

Edgerton has yet to be changed with any crime, but the investigation is ongoing.

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‘Big Gay Musical’ Creator Fred Caruso Kills Himself, Leaves Lengthy Facebook Suicide Note

Off-Broadway producer and film director Fred Caruso died Monday in an apparent suicide in Las Vegas at age 41, leaving behind a final farewell on the Facebook page of his 2009 film, The Big Gay Musical.

Caruso, who was also involved with creating the Off-Broadway hit Newsical, said in the note that he had found peace before his death. He also details the years of inner turmoil he’s endured, and that he’d attempted suicide just one week earlier by taking 30 Ambien.

In the note, he reiterates that he was confident in his decision to take his own life, after trying his best to “deal with this.” He also asks if anyone wishes to take action, to send a donation to the Trevor Project, “where they help people that can helped.”

You can read the full note below:

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Melissa Etheridge Debuts ‘Pulse’, a Vital Musical Response to Orlando – LISTEN

Melissa Etheridge wrote a new song with producer Jerry Wonda on Monday, following Sunday’s massacre in Orlando, and plans to donate proceeds from the track, called “Pulse”, also the name of the nightclub where the shooting took place, to an as yet unspecified LGBT charity.

She spoke with Rolling Stone about writing the track:

“I’m dealing with it the way I deal, which is, I wrote a song,” she said. “I just sat here, and I just started writing a song… That’s how I first started to cope because, as a singer songwriter, I feel very… I’ve done this before. I feel called to speak; to do what musicians do. We’ve been the town criers for hundreds of years. We’re mirrors of society. We want to try to make sense. We want to try to heal. We want to bring some meaning, some purpose. We also want to put it down forever in history. That’s how I’m coping.”

Etheridge also posted the lyrics to Facebook:

PULSE (LOVE WILL ALWAYS WIN)
Everybody’s got a pain inside
Imaginary wounds they fight to hide
How can I hate them
When everybody’s got a pulse

(photo via Facebook)

The post Melissa Etheridge Debuts ‘Pulse’, a Vital Musical Response to Orlando – LISTEN appeared first on Towleroad.

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Utah Lt. Governor Responds After Apology to LGBTQ Community Goes Viral – WATCH

More than 1,000 people gathered in downtown Salt Lake City on Monday for a vigil in support of the Orlando victims. Utah Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox was one of the speakers, and he gave a moving and heartfelt speech that surprised a lot of people. The speech has since gone viral.

Cox is a Republican who endorsed Ted Cruz for president, and who comes from a deep red state — one of 12 states suing the Obama administration over the transgender bathroom directive. He was never really an ally of the LGBTQ community, but the horror in Orlando made his heart change.

Just catching up to the tragedy this morning. Devastating. Please love. Just love. Always love.

— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) June 12, 2016

Cox was invited to the vigil by openly gay Utah State Senator Jim Dabakis and he seemed genuinely thankful to be there. He started by telling the crowd that he wanted to apologize to the LGBTQ community.

There were some kids in my class that were different. Sometimes I wasn’t kind to them. I didn’t know it at the time, but I know now that they were gay. I will forever regret not treating them with the kindness, dignity and respect — the love — that they deserved. For that, I sincerely and humbly apologize.

Over the intervening years, my heart has changed. It has changed because of you. It has changed because I have gotten to know many of you. You have been patient with me. You helped me learn the right letters of the alphabet in the right order even though you keep adding new ones. You have been kind to me. Jim Dabakis even told me I dressed nice once, even though I know he was lying. You have treated me with the kindness, dignity, and respect — the love — that I very often did NOT deserve. And it has made me love you.

He said that he we are not at a crossroad of “hate and terror,” and that there’s no easy solution for it. But we need to try and find one together, leaving politics out of it. “Today we need fewer Republicans and fewer Democrats. Today we need more Americans.” And he ended the powerful 9-minute speech with a call-to-action:

And so may we leave today, with a resolve to be a little kinder. May we try to listen more and talk less. May we forgive someone that has wronged us. And perhaps, most importantly, try to love someone that is different than us. For my straight friends, might I suggest starting with someone who is gay.

Cox appeared on Andrea Mitchell Reports on Thursday to discuss the viral response to his speech on Monday in the wake of the Orlando shooting.

Said Cox, “I didn’t want it to be a political speech. I wanted to share what was in my heart.” He added, “I think it’s pretty sad that a speech by a Lieutenant Governor in Utah is getting this much attention just by saying we should love each other. How low is the bar in our country?”

You can read the full transcript from KSL and check out the video below:

Also, watch video of Cox speaking to Andrea Mitchell on Thursday, below.

The post Utah Lt. Governor Responds After Apology to LGBTQ Community Goes Viral – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

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‘Pulse’ Owner Says Club Will Reopen to ‘Keep Our Hearts Beating and our Spirit Alive’ – VIDEO

In her first interview after Sunday’s shooting in Orlando, the owner of the Pulse Barbara Poma, opened up to Matt Lauer on the Today show. She described the club to him as a “safe and fun place to come be who you are. Simple as that.”

She told him how all of that changed in an instant, after she received the “most surreal phone call” from her manager to tell her they were dealing with an active shooter on the place they all considered home.”It was overwhelming.”

Poma opened Pulse 13 years ago to celebrate the life of her late brother John, who had died from HIV/AIDS complications. She chose the name “Pulse” because she wanted to “keep the heartbeat alive.”

John was gay and introduced her to a world she came to adore. She was 14 when she started going out to gay bars and clubs, and he would always do her hair and makeup for her. When he passed away, she wanted to open a place to honor him and “reach out to our gay community in Orlando.”

When Lauer asked how her mission would change, from honoring one person to now honoring 49, she said she would always have a mission. “We just welcome those families into our families, and we just have to move forward and find a way to keep our hearts beating and keep our spirit alive; and we’re not going to let somebody take this away from us.”

Poma focused on the 49 lives that were lost, but she wouldn’t talk about the shooter: “It’s important to never let hate win,” she said.

Watch the full interview below:

The post ‘Pulse’ Owner Says Club Will Reopen to ‘Keep Our Hearts Beating and our Spirit Alive’ – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

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Anti-Transgender Campaign Urges Male Petitioners To Chase Women Into Their Bathrooms

Joseph Backholm’s strategy to oppose trans protections is to do the very illegal thing he thinks they allow for.

The post Anti-Transgender Campaign Urges Male Petitioners To Chase Women Into Their Bathrooms appeared first on ThinkProgress.

thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/06/16/3789346/washington-transgender-petition-bathroom-strategy/

#WeAreOrlando: Twitter users share their #QueerSelfLove

www.glaad.org/blog/weareorlando-twitter-users-share-their-queerselflove