Fri 17 Jun 2016 In: Our Communities View at Wayback View at NDHA
If you want to read back through GayNZ.com's rolling coverage of this tragedy and its aftermath click here. 10.30PM Friday NZT update: [Our apologies that our rolling coverage of the Orlando tragedy slowed down over the last 24 hours as we have diverted some of our reporters' time and resources to covering the recent Mexico gay nightclub mass shooting which has been all but ignored around the world including by gay media and communities.] The FBI is casting doubt on a emerging public consensus that the Orlando gay nightclub gunman was a semi-closeted gay man in deep psychological conflict due to his sexuality. It is being suggested the reports of his drinking at the club and messaging gay men on hook-up apps is a case of mistaken identity. The FBI is focusing on Mateen’s history of virulently antigay comments at work and elsewhere and messages he posted to Facebook during his rampage inside the club. “Now taste the Islamic state vengeance,” he declared, condemning “the filthy ways of the west.” the huge Walmart retail chain has reportedly fired an employee who posted on Facebook: "Y'all see a Gay Club shooting as a horrible tragedy. I see it as someone doing Community Service." The male employee is apparently from a town in the state of Georgia. After visiting Orlando President Obama has called the massacre 'an attack on the lgbt community. ‘It’s a good time for all us to reflect on how we treat each other and to insist on respect and equality for every human being," he said. "We have to end discrimination and violence against our brothers and sisters who are in the LGBT community here at home and around the world." Survivors of the Orlando shooting have expressed their thanks to those around the world who have donated over $NZ5 million to a crowd-funded support fund. Conservative and bombastic Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been ambushed at Washington deposition hearing by glbti activists who chanted "love wins" and other slogans. The activists were angry at Trump's political grandstanding over what he calls the massacre of "the gays" in Orlando. A "human chain of love" has been formed in Orlando to stand between the funerals which are beginning to take placer and the anti-gay members of the Westboro Baptist church who have flocked to Florida. Church members are attempting to picket funerals of the massacre victims with banners saying "God Hates Fags" and other abuse. In a touching moment an entire plane-load of passengers held back in their seats upon arrival at Orlando to personally express their condolences to a distraught woman who was flying to the funeral of her grandson who was killed in the massacre. 8.30PM Thursday NZT update: Melissa Etheridge Lesbian singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge has penned a song in memory of the victims of the Pulse massacre. Etheridge says she was heart-broken when she heard of the killings. "I'm dealing with it the way I deal, which is, I wrote a song," she said. "I just sat here, and I just started writing a song… That's how I first started to cope because, as a singer songwriter, I feel very... I've done this before. I feel called to speak; to do what musicians do. We've been the town criers for hundreds of years. We're mirrors of society. We want to try to make sense. We want to try to heal. We want to bring some meaning, some purpose. We also want to put it down forever in history. That's how I'm coping." You can hear a clip of the song here. Orlando's chief medical examiner who led the first team into Pulse nightclub to document the bodies of the 49 victims says the club looked as though time and stood still and the victims had just laid down to sleep. "It was almost like time stopped," a weary Stephany says. "TVs were playing in the background; strobe lights were blinking; drinks had just been poured, food half-eaten, checks about to be paid. It was truly like time stood still." Stephany is available to the victims' families who want to find out more about how their loved ones died. The most common question he knows he will receive: Did my loved one suffer? "I don't think so. I didn't see any evidence of struggle or any signs of trampling," he said, "It was just like everyone stopped and laid down where they were, if that's any consolation to the families." Stephany says he examined the body of the shooter himself, separately from the victims. And the shooter's body was transported in a separate vehicle to the morgue as he didn't feel victim's families would want any of their their loved ones alongside their killer. 6.00PM Thursday NZT update: A hactivist from Anonymous has hacked into the various Twitter pages linked to the Islamic State and posted links to gay porn sites and pro-gay messages such as “I’m gay and proud”. Rainbow flags and #OrlandoWillNotBeForgotten were among the things posted by the hacker @WauchulaGhost on IS pages. The Orlando gunman Omar Mateen pledged his allegiance to IS during his attack on the gay nightclub, Pulse. The hacker told Newsweek “I did it for the lives lost in Orlando. Daesh (IS) have been spreading and praising the attack, so I thought I would defend those that were lost. The taking of innocent lives will not be tolerated.” "Our actions are directed at Jihadist extremists. Many of our own (group of hackers) are Muslim and we respect all religions that do not take innocent lives,” he said, explaining why he didn’t post anything too hardcore. Dealing with the immediate aftermath of the attack at Pulse 9.00AM Thursday NZT update: FBI agents are intensively questioning the wife of the gunman who shot to death 49 patrons of the gay Pulse nightclub in Orlando at the weekend. The questioning has included polygraph, or lie detector, tests. The FBI wants to know how much she knew of her husbands intentions and why she didn't report to police authorities. She has already admitted she knew he was planning some kind of attack and went with him to purchase the guns he used. A neighbour describes her as seeming to be a good person and a good mother to the couple's three-year old son. Meanwhile, the FBI is also asking for any information the general public might have regarding the gunman. They say they are trying to build up a picture of him as a person and also of why and how he planned and carried out what is the worst mass shooting in US history. They are asking anyone with information who is overseas to contact their nearest US embassy or consulate. The tragedy is forcing many Afghan-Americans to confront the generally taboo subject of homosexuality and also religious intolerance in their communities. "This is a reminder that violence against marginalized communities remains a very real threat in this country," the Afghan-American Conference has stated, acknowledging that "there are LGBTQ people in every community, including our own." Orlando County has opened a Family Assistance centre to help the those close to the victims and the deceased. Members of the SWAT team which brought the massacre and hostage situation to an end and were first to see the carnage inside the club are receiving counseling. A Pulse patron says the gunman was socially awkward but had been seen on many occasions trying to pick up gay men at Pulse. A gay classmate has recounted how the gunman tried to pick him up, asking him if he was gay. The classmate, who was closeted at the time, said no. To which he says the gunman replied "Well if you were gay, you would be my type." It has been suggested the gunman may be gay due to, in particular, his long history of visiting Pulse over several years and his use of gay dating/hook-up apps. However, it is unclear exactly what his reasons for this behaviour were. A New York gay writer who was forced out of Afghanistan when he came out as gay says "I suffered from persecution and although I would never commit violence I have met many gay Afghans in America as well as inside Afghanistan who said they would take their own life if it was known that they were gay... The question is whether that violence ends in them taking only their own life or if they take other people with them. Death is easier than coming out for some people." He points out that many Muslims' religious beliefs are rooted in the teachings of "dominant state-sponsored religions that don't tolerate freedom of beliefs or speech and who throw gay people off the tops of buildings or behead them." He says that after the World Trade Centre attacks some glbti Muslims faced discrimination by the glbti communities as well as trying to deal with the disconnect between their sexualities and their family and religious cultures. "They have to make a choice between their homosexuality and their parents, that's what it so often comes down to." US federal authorities have started calling the massacre a hate crime and an act of terrorism, though the definition of terrorism has in recent years become muddled and unspecific. It has emerged that some of the blood used in transfusions to keep victims of the tragedy alive may have come from the gunman himself. A blood donation service has confirmed that he gave blood in late May. In most cases donated blood can be used for up to 42 days from the donation date. And in a sad irony a 33-year old lab supervisor from the same blood service was amongst the people killed in the attack. GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 17th June 2016
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 17th June 2016 - 9:44pm