There are many ways to describe what happened at the Pulse nightclub in the early morning hours of June 12, 2016. It was the largest mass shooting in U.S. history—taking 49 lives and injuring 53 others. It was a hate-motivated attack on the LGBTQ and Latinx communities. It was an act of domestic terrorism. As the nation reeled from this devastating attack, voices from the LGBTQ and gun violence prevention advocacy communities came together first to grieve and then to stand together and fight back against hate violence, anti-LGBTQ animus, and the gaps in the nation’s gun laws that allow dangerous people to have easy access to weapons of war.
Please join the Pride Fund to End Gun Violence and the Center for American Progress Action Fund for a discussion of the political and advocacy landscape in the year following the Pulse shooting. We will discuss the intersections of LGBTQ and gun violence prevention advocacy over the past year; the recent rise of hate violence in the United States; the impact on affected communities; and how weak gun laws contribute to lethal, hate-motivated violence.
Opening remarks:
Laura Durso, vice president, LGBT research and communications project, Center for American Progress Action Fund
Jason Lindsay, founder and executive director, Pride Fund to End Gun Violence
Keynote:
Jeff Xavier, survivor of the Pulse shooting
In discussion:
Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT), 5th District
Rep. Val Demings (D-FL), 10th District
Moderator:
Jason Lindsay, founder and executive director, Pride Fund to End Gun Violence
Featured panelists:
Joanna Cifredo, transgender activist
State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-FL), 49th District
Winnie Stachelberg, executive vice president, external affairs, Center for American Progress Action Fund
Siclaly “Laly” Santiago-Leon, cousin of Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, who was killed in Pulse shooting; board member, Pride Fund to End Gun Violence
Moderator:
Stasha Rhodes, director of advocacy, guns and crime policy, Center for American Progress Action Fund