The
National LGBTQ Task Force along with 52 other groups today called for
unity in the wake of the mass shooting that took place in Orlando last
weekend.
The attack that has caused outrage across the nation and the world
happened at Pulse during the LGBTQ nightclub’s Latino-themed night.
Forty-nine people were murdered, the majority of which were Latino and
Black LGBTQ people. The groups released the following
statement in four languages. Attached are the Arabic, French, and
Spanish version. The English version of the statement follows:
We the
undersigned organizations working on the front lines of the lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) movement share in the
profound grief for those who were killed and many
more who were wounded during Latin Night at the Pulse nightclub in
Orlando, Florida. Their lives were lost or forever altered in this
devastating act of violence targeting LGBTQ people. Our hearts go out to
all the family and friends touched by this horrific
act. We know their lives will never be the same again.
This
national tragedy happened against the backdrop of anti-LGBTQ legislation
sweeping this country and we must not forget that in this time of
grief. Unity and an organized response in the face
of hatred is what we owe the fallen and the grieving. Collective
resolve across national, racial and political lines will be required to
turn the tide against anti-LGBTQ violence. Our response to this horrific
act, committed by one individual, will have a
deep impact on Muslim communities in this country and around the world.
We as an intersectional movement cannot allow anti-Muslim sentiment to
be the focal point as it distracts from the larger issue, which is the
epidemic of violence that LGBTQ people, including
those in the Muslim community, are facing in this country.
The
animus and violence toward LGBTQ people is not news to our community. It
is our history, and it is our reality. In 1973, 32 LGBTQ people died in
an arson fire at an LGBTQ Upstairs Lounge in
New Orleans. More than forty years later, similar acts of anti-LGBTQ
violence are commonplace. Crimes motivated by bias due to sexual
orientation and gender identity were the second largest set of hate
crimes documented by the FBI in 2015 (over 20 percent).
Murders and violence against transgender people globally have taken
more than 2000 lives over the last nine years. Bias crimes against US
immigrant populations, which include significant numbers of LGBTQ
people, have increased over the past decade as anti-immigrant
rhetoric has escalated.
For
those of us who carry multiple marginalized identities, the impact of
this violence and discrimination has even more severe consequences.
These intersectional identities and their ramifications
are apparent at every level in the Orlando tragedy, which
disproportionately affected Latino/a members of our communities, and has
xenophobic consequences that threaten LGBTQ Muslims. According to the
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), there
were 24 reports of hate violence related homicides in 2015, and 62% of
those victims were LGBTQ people of color. Transgender and gender
nonconforming people made up 67% of the homicides, the majority of whom
were transgender women of color. The violence against
transgender and gender nonconforming people has continued into 2016
with 13 reported individual homicides this year alone. NCAVP research on
hate violence shows that LGBTQ people experience violence not only by
strangers, but also in their everyday environments
by employers, coworkers, landlords and neighbors. The Orlando shooting
is simply an extreme instance of the kind of violence that LGBTQ people
encounter every day.
As
LGBTQ people who lived through the AIDS crisis, we know what it looks
like and feels like to be scapegoated and isolated in the midst of a
crisis that actually requires solidarity, empathy
and collaboration from all quarters. We appeal to all in our movement
and all who support us to band together in rejecting hatred and violence
in all its shape shifting forms. Let us stand united as a diverse LGBTQ
community of many faiths, races, ethnicities,
nationalities and backgrounds.
Signed,
Arcus Foundation
Believe Out Loud
BiNet USA
Bisexual Resource Center
Center for Black Equity, Inc.
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
The Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals
The Council for Global Equality
Courage Campaign
Equality Federation
Family Equality Council
Freedom for All Americans
Freedom to Work
GLBTQ Legal
Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)
Gay Men’s Health Crisis
The Gill Foundation
GLAAD
GLMA: Health Professionals
Advancing LGBT Equality
GLSEN
Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network
The Harvey Milk Foundation
Human Rights Campaign
interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth
The Johnson Family Foundation
Lambda Legal
MAP
Marriage Equality USA
Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Council of La Raza
National LGBTQ Task Force
National Minority Aids Council (NMAC)
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance
The New York City Anti-Violence Project
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
OutRight Action International
The Palette Fund
PFLAG National
Pride at Work
Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE)
Southerners on New Ground (SONG)
SpeakOUT Boston
The T*Circle Collective
Tarab NYC
Transgender Education Network of Texas
Trans People of Color Coalition
Transgender Law Center
The Trevor Project
The Williams Institute