Psychological Wounds For Pulse Shooting Victims, Community Far From Healed Three Years Later
June 12 marks the third anniversary of when a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 others inside the gay Orlando night club. “It’s a really different kind of year — something else we learned from our colleagues in 9/11,” said Barbara Poma, the owner of Pulse and executive director of the onePulse Foundation. “They warned us that years three, four and five will be very different. They are. I don’t know how to explain it, but it really is a different feeling. It’s hard to really wrap your brain around.” In other news about the LGBTQ community: a candidate's promise, a transgender woman's death, and a look at San Francisco's response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
Tampa Bay Times:
Three Years After Pulse Shooting, Psychological Wounds Still Raw. ‘This Isn’t Something That’s Going To Heal Itself’
Three years after Florida’s worst mass shooting, the psychological wounds for many are far from healed. June marks a celebratory month for the LGBTQ community, but in Orlando, it’s the start of a trying time for survivors, families and first responders. Frequent reminders of gun violence on the news don’t help. Nor do the conspiracists who harass victims online and call them hoaxsters. Some victims healed from their physical injuries, but not the rejection of their sexuality from their own families. (Contorno, 6/12)
Politico:
O'Rourke Pledges Protections For LGBTQ People
Beto O’Rourke on Wednesday pledged to reverse President Donald Trump’s restrictions on transgender people serving in the military and push for passage of the Equality Act if elected president. The Texas Democrat, releasing a broad plan for addressing LGBTQ rights, said he would also end the practice of discharging service members who test positive for HIV and reverse the Trump administration’s “deploy or get out” policy affecting service members deemed non-deployable. (Siders, 6/12)
The New York Times:
After A Transgender Woman’s Death At Rikers, Calls For Justice And Answers
In April, Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman, was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges and sent to the Rikers Island jail complex because she could not afford to pay a $500 bail. Nearly two months later, she was found dead in her cell. The circumstances surrounding Ms. Polanco’s death on Friday, which have not yet been fully explained, quickly garnered national attention, sparking outcry from both transgender rights and criminal justice activists. Adding to their anger was what many saw as hypocrisy on the part of New York City officials. (Gold and Piccoli, 6/11)
The Associated Press:
Family: Transgender Inmate Who Died Had A Seizure Disorder
A transgender woman who died in a New York City jail had a seizure disorder and other health problems and had been hospitalized weeks before, her family's attorney said Tuesday amid calls for an investigation into her death. A jail officer found Layleen Polanco, 27, unresponsive in her Rikers Island cell Friday. She was pronounced dead soon afterward. (6/11)
KQED:
While The US Government Sat Idle, AIDS Activism Mobilized In San Francisco
Faced with a lack of either federal leadership or journalistic accountability between the years of the CDC’s first report and Koop’s belated one (and for years after), the task of warning against AIDS, agitating for research funding and educating the public about the epidemic fell to individuals living with AIDS or those caring for them. They created their own support structures, their own pamphlets, benefit parties, newsletters and vigils. (Hotchkiss, 6/11)
