🌈 Let Us Remember Together

, On this day one year ago, a burst of gunfire erupted inside Pulse nightclub in Orlando, drowning out the heavy Latin beat blaring from the speakers.  Forty-nine heartbeats were silenced. Another 58 people were wounded.  After a three-hour standoff, the killer was himself killed by the Orlando Police Department. It the deadliest terrorist attack since the September 11th attacks, the deadliest mass shooting by a single shooter and the deadliest incidence of violence against LGBT people in the US. The victims who died that terrible night are:  Akyra Monet Murray, 18 • Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 • Amanda Alvear and Mercedez Marisol Flores, 25 and 26 • Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 • Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25 • Antonio Davon Brown, 29 • Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 • Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 • Cory James Connell, 21 • Darryl "DJ" Roman Burt II, 29 • Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 • Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 • Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 • Enrique L. Rios, Jr, 25 • Eric Ivan Ortiz Rivera, 36 • Frank Hernandez , 27 • Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 • Geraldo A. "Drake" Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 • Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 • Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 • Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 • Jean C. Nieves Rodriguez, 27 • Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 • Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 • Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 • Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 • Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 • Juan Pablo Rivera Velazquez, 37 • Juan Ramon Guerrero and Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 22 and 32 • Kimberly Morris, 37 • Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 • Luis Daniel Conde , 39 • Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 • Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 • Luis S. Vielma, 22 • Martin Benitez Torres, 33 • Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 • Oscar A. Aracena-Montero and Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 26 and 31 • Paul Terrell Henry , 41 • Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 • Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 • Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 • Stanley Almodovar III, 23 • Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 • Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 • Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 Let us remember them. May their memories always be a blessing to people who knew and loved them and to all of us. And let us also remember the survivors who struggle daily with the memories of what happened one year ago today. They were and are all of our sons and daughters. Thank you, Kristen Rosen Gonzalez