Today on The Players’ Tribune, New York Liberty guard and Orlando native Shavonte Zellous
speaks out about the mass shooting in Orlando, the significance of gay
clubs to the LGBTQ community and tells the story
of her sister who lost several friends on Saturday night and the fateful phone call that kept her away.
On her sister’s story:
My sister had been on her way to Pulse on Saturday night to meet three of her friends, just as she’d also done last Saturday. It was Latin night. It was also Pride month.
Her phone rang while she was driving. It was the shift manager from her job, asking her to cover the 6 a.m. shift.
She
said yes, turned around and went home to bed. Her friends — the three
she was going to meet — never made it back home. They were among the 49
killed.
On the significance of gay clubs:
Gay
clubs are more than places where people dance and drink. They are
sanctuaries. They are communities. Gay clubs are where many go to find
themselves or be themselves
or commune with others like themselves, away from the judgment of the
world outside.
On being a part of the LGBTQ community:
When
you’re gay or trans or queer, you carry the hate of others with you
every day. It comes in many forms: insults, discrimination, ignorance,
violence. I would imagine
this wasn’t the first time the victims of Pulse had felt terrorized
just for being themselves.
