Orlando Shooting

On Saturday, June 11th, I had the privilege of attending Boston Pride.

I freely rode the T into Boston, along with many other openly LGBTQ individuals, many clad brightly in rainbows and literally wearing their support, joy, and freedom, from their rainbow colored hair, to socks, to tees and tanks, and more.

I watched a parade of such diversity – from bikers to seniors, from elementary schools to a float honoring Prince, from banks to politicians to Jewish groups to Christian groups, all supporting, blending and celebrating equal (not special) rights.

Sure there were a few bible thumping Jesus freaks trying to promote their beliefs – hey, they have a right to free speech and expression too; poor choice of audience, though.

After the parade, I found myself in City Hall Plaza, where I couldn’t help but feel the crowd was smaller than previous years. It may have been the weather – it was a bit chilly for a June afternoon. But my other thought was – we have our equality here in the United States. Maybe we, the LGBTQ community in the United States, don’t feel the need to be as “loud” as we’ve been in the past. My first thought about that was – what a great feeling to know that we are accepted, that times really have changed, to the degree that not as many feel the need to dance about it in the streets of downtown Boston. I’m a little embarrassed about that. There are still so many places in the world, where the LGBTQ community does not share the same equal rights that we do here in the United States. It’s our responsibility to continue to be loud, for those who are still persecuted, still shunned, still forced to hide in the closet for their own safety. And later in the afternoon, as the weather cleared some, the crowd did grow thicker. Thankfully.

And then I woke up Sunday morning to learn of the shooting at Pulse in Orlando.

I know many say it was an act of terrorism; not a hate crime. I have a hard time accepting that. If it were merely an act of terrorism, there were other venues, other gatherings of larger numbers, that would have made more sense for the shooter to target. I’m not saying I would have preferred that; I’m just saying I, for one, fully believe that the venue chosen, as well as the date – a date when the majority of pride celebrations were taking place - had something significant to do with the choice. I fully believe that it was not just a terrorist attack, but a strategically planned hate crime as well.

I’m not expecting everyone to agree with my opinion, or with my lifestyle. I’m not expecting everyone to think the way that I do. I wish I could expect everyone to accept and embrace equality. What I do expect – and I think this is beyond reasonable – is that those who don’t agree, don’t resort to violence against me and my LGBTQ family (and for those who don’t grasp this – when I say LGBTQ family, I mean ALL LGBTQ individuals ALL OVER THE WORLD) simply because you don’t support our lifestyle choices.

Until these acts of violence; until these hate crimes; until these anti-human (because that’s what we are – humans – somebody’s son, daughter, mother, father, wife, husband, lover, cousin, sister, brother) demonstrators, haters, and criminals are ALL stopped; until not just the United States, but all countries, share equal rights regardless of race, religion, skin color, sexual preference, gender, and so on, we need to stay loud, and keep getting louder. And when we do all share those equal rights, we need to keep shouting from the rooftops and everywhere else with our appreciation of our equal (not special) rights, and our freedom. We need to cherish it, and we need to be sure that we never, EVER lose it.

Sandi Prosnitz: Building Your Better Body