#pulse nightclub massacre tw

[trans-advice]

Look we usually do memorial posts for the pulse nightclub massacre in orlando florida in 2016, but the trans genocide is so violent & vast this year that the queue is having info about trans genocide instead

[projectqueer]

Gunman Omar Mateen attacked Pulse nightclub on 12 June 2016. The LGBTI club in Orlando was hosting one of its regular Latin nights. In total, 49 people lost their lives and 53 injured – predominantly LGBTI. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting by a sole gunman in US history.

Mateen was shot and killed in a stand-off with police. The lawsuit accused the city of Orlando and police officers of not responding properly to the attack.

CLICK THE HEADER LINK TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE.

[queermediastudies]

Queer Terror

The concept this week is Queer Terror, which is defined by the article, Feeling Fear, Feeling Queer: The Peril and Potential of Queer Terror by Harris and Jones as, “both terror against queer subjects and a queering of terror culture itself,” (2017).   An example of Queer Terror in mainstream media is the way that the Stonewall uprising was reported on in 1969.  Linked HERE is an article written by Gillian Brockell and published by the Washington Post titled How the Homophobic Media Covered the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. The Washington Post is a mainstream media source, which by the article makes reference to multiple popular publications of the 1960’s and 70’s in regards to their reporting methods surrounding Stonewall.  Fear of LGBTQ+ community members was commonplace in the late 60’s, and reporting often included fear mongering (encouraging terror) and homophobic or otherwise offensive language.  Articles surrounding Stonewall aimed to break apart community members, discourage gathering, and instill fear of LGBTQ+ persons in their heterosexual and cisgender societal counterparts.  Media coverage is manipulated to depict queer folx as dangerous, scary, and also serves to dehumanize them. The article by Anne Harris and Stacy Holman Jones also articulates how reporting methods and socialized queer terror aim to harm LGBTQ+ Communities.  The article which references the homophobic massacre at Pulse nightclub reads, ‘Orlando as an affective outcome of an instance of queer terror reinforces the pervasive prohibition against gathering.  Gathering is an increasingly suspect activity which often has radical and life-taking consequences: it is no longer safe to gather.   But people of color and other minoritarians (including queers) have been dogged by this prohibition for centuries” (Harris & Jones, 2017).  Both the Harris & Jones article and the Washington Post article emphasize the social terror associated with queer folx; illustrating that simply existing as a queer person and gathering with your community has been, and remains, dangerous.   Below are some images from publications reporting on Stonewall, TW: racial and homophobic slurs, violence. 

References:

Brockell, G. (2019, June 08). How the homophobic media covered the 1969 Stonewall uprising. Washington Post. Retrieved November 03, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/06/08/how-homophobic-media-covered-stonewall-uprising/?noredirect=on

Harris, A., & Jones, S. H. (2017). Feeling Fear, Feeling Queer: The Peril and Potential of Queer Terror. Qualitative Inquiry, 23(7), 561-568. doi:10.1177/1077800417718304

Images Retrieved From:

HISKIND. (2017, February 06). LGBT+ History Month: How the Press Reported the Stonewall Riots in 1969. Retrieved November 03, 2020, from https://hiskind.com/lgbt-history-month-how-the-press-reported-the-stonewall-riots-in-1969/

[trans-advice]

Orlando community mourns Colorado Club Q victims: 'Love will win again'

[trans-advice]

Pulse Survivor ‘At a Loss’ Over Texas Elementary School Massacre