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Op-Ed: One Year Later, We Are Still Not Okay

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We Owe it to Those in Orlando to Become the Voices They Lost

My husband and I live in St. Petersburg, Florida, where it’s not uncommon to take an “Orlando weekend.” We’re about an hour and a half away from the site of the Pulse Massacre.

We haven’t gone.

Not because we don’t want to pay our respects, and not because we haven’t been to Orlando. Not because my husband knew one of the victims or that you can’t really go anywhere in the Florida “gay scene” without talking to someone who knew someone that was at Pulse on June 12, 2016.

Not even because my husband and our friends had celebrated a friend’s birthday at Pulse just months before the massacre, only reaffirming that it could’ve been us or any one of our friends that had been there that night.

We haven’t been because the Pulse Massacre, the anti-gay hate crime which one year ago today claimed the lives of 49 people, injured 68 more, and remains the worst terror attack on American soil since 9/11 and the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, is still just too fresh.

We’re no longer numb, but even now, a year later, we’re still not okay.

Those men and women, mostly people of color, were targeted because of how they looked, who they loved, how they loved, or whose love they supported. On June 12, 2016, the LGBT community found itself at the center of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, and even today, that’s a fact that can’t be stressed enough.

Sons, daughters, brother, sisters, cousins, best friends, music lovers, pet owners and activists were all taken from us that night, robbed from their families, their friends and their futures.

But as I noted then, the LGBT community is strong. We’re strong because we’ve always had to be. Because in 1969, when our only way to find acceptance was at a seedy bar, and when even our right to do that was threatened, the patrons of Stonewall showed us what strength was.

It’s a strength we carry with us, even if we don’t always recognize it as such. Those men and women, and those that fought after them, gave us their strength: if only in the fact that perhaps for one moment, we didn’t second-guess ourselves before showing even the most minuscule display of public affection toward someone we love.

We now carry the strength of the Pulse Massacre victims with us, too.

A lot’s happened in a year.  For me personally, I got married. For America, Donald Trump won the Electoral College and became the 45th President of the United States. And for the world, Britney Spears released her ninth studio album. (Kidding. I mean, she did… but I digress.)

I don’t pretend to speak for the entire LGBT community. But I can tell you that for many of us, we weren’t okay a year ago, we haven’t been okay since, and if we seem “off” today, it’s because:

We are still not okay.

We’re not okay that in 2017 alone, Republicans have introduced over 100 anti-LGBT bills in 20 states. Or that following their “thoughts and prayers” last year, they’ve done nothing to change the laws that allowed a madman who’d previously been questioned by the FBI to so readily, so easily, so legally, obtain an AR-15-style semi-automatic assault rifle.

We’re not okay when the Muslim community is demonized because of the actions of one evil man or group. Many of us are Muslim, and we’ve all “been” the Muslim community: hated, feared, misunderstood. Questioned, berated, threatened, afraid to show our faces. Detained. When you try to ban one of us, you try to ban us all. 

We’re not okay that the Secretary of Education admitted that she wouldn’t work to prohibit LGBT discrimination for students. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 10-24, a rate that’s four times greater for queer youth. The Human Rights Campaign found that since the election, almost 50% of LGBT youth said they’d taken steps to hide their orientation, with 70% saying they’d witnessed bullying, hate messages or harassment.

We’re not okay that a man who favored conversion therapy to “needy” HIV treatment, who said that LGBT service members weakened the military and cost the Indiana economy $60 million for his “license to discriminate” against us now calls himself the Vice President of the United States.

And we’re not okay when the president himself completely ignored LGBT Pride, opting instead to declare June as, among other things, “National Home Ownership Month.” The silence is telling, even dangerous, especially after Pulse. One need only look at the ongoing decimation of Transgender people in modern America, particularly transgender women of color, to see the danger in it.

So we’re certainly not okay when that president offers his hollow thoughts on the massacre’s anniversary, complete with no mention of the LGBT community. A president that, one year ago today as a candidate, was quick to politicize the tragedy and even claim that he “called it,” attempting to use the 49 deaths “he’ll never forget” to justify his unconstitutional Muslim ban. (The madman responsible was born in New York.)

And that’s to say nothing of his subsequent lies and pandering for the LGBT vote, nor the speech he gave ten minutes from the site, without visiting it, to anti-LGBT leaders two months later. As I said, my husband and I still haven’t gone: there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a place of healing for many, reclaimed after tragedy—but for us, it’s still too soon.

Donald Trump just didn’t care to go. And the fact that he pushed for his pro-gun agenda just eight days after the recent terror attacks in London only speaks to that fact.

On the anniversary of this heartbreaking, mind-numbing tragedy, if we’re truly “One Pulse,” truly “One Orlando,” it’s important that we recognize that we still aren’t okay – but more importantly, act upon it. 

Speak out. Be heard. Be seen. Vote in 2018. Vote in 2020.

Silence is acceptance, and we owe it to those in Orlando to use their strength and become the voices that they lost.

In loving memory of Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old. Amanda L. Alvear, 25 years old. Oscar A. Aracena Montero, 26 years old. Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, 33 years old. Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old. Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old. Angel Candelario-Padro, 28 years old.

Of Juan Chavez Martinez, 25 years old. Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old. Cory James Connell, 21 years old. Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old. Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old. Simón Adrian Carrillo Fernández, 31 years old. Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old.

Of Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old. Peter Ommy Gonzalez Cruz, 22 years old. Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old. Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old. Frank Hernandez, 27 years old. Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old. Javier Jorge Reyes, 40 years old.

Of Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old. Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old. Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25 years old. Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old. Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old. Brenda Marquez McCool, 49 years old. Gilberto R. Silva Menendez, 25 years old.

Of Kimberly Jean Morris, 37 years old. Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old. Luis Omar Ocasio Capo, 20 years old. Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez, 25 years old. Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old. Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old. Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old. Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old. 

Of Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez, 27 years old. Xavier Emmanuel Serrano-Rosado, 35 years old. Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old. Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, 24 years old. Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old. Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old. Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old.

Of Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24 years old. Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez, 37 years old. Luis Sergio Vielma, 22 years old. Franky Jimmy DeJesus Velázquez, 50 years old. Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old, and Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old.

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News

Podcaster Factchecks Vance After VP Uses Crude Epithet to Attack Him

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58 minutes ago

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September 24, 2025

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Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, now a political commentator and podcaster, responded strongly to JD Vance with a searing set of factchecks after the Vice President used a vulgar remark to insult him.

Shortly after news broke that a gunman had shot three people at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas, the Vice President quickly framed the story as an attack on law enforcement, despite the victims being detainees — a fact he neglected to mention. Two of the three have died. All were detainees, not ICE agents or law enforcement.

“The obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop. I’m praying for everyone hurt in this attack and for their families,” Vance wrote on social media.

READ MORE: ‘Maybe Some’: Jordan Concedes Trump’s Latest ABC Threat Was Government Pressure

Later, the FBI claimed a bullet casing found had the words “Anti-ICE” written on it.

Many were quick to rebuke the Vice President, among them Favreau, who wrote: “The Vice President is not a reliable source of information. This is now the fifth or sixth time he’s posted a political take contradicted by facts from his own law enforcement agencies.”

Vance then countered: “The gunman had anti-ICE messaging carved on the bullets he used. What, precisely, did I get wrong, dips–?”

That’s when Favreau unleashed his lengthy response, noting some of the instances when Vance rushed to judgment rather than wait for a more full set of facts.

“Not sure why it’s so difficult to give people the full story,” Favreau wrote, “detainees were murdered by a sniper, and “anti-ICE” was found on a bullet. This seems to happen quite a bit with you.

He quoting Vance saying: “It is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far-Left.”

READ MORE: ‘Red Flag’: Stephen Miller Accused of ‘Reviving Fascist Rhetoric’ at Kirk Memorial

“Not a statistical fact,” Favreau explained, “not even what the single online poll you cited says.”

He continued, writing: “You threatened George Soros’ Open Society Foundation based on a lie that they funded a Nation article you didn’t like. They did no such thing.”

“You got another community note after accusing the Wall Street Journal of fabricating the existence of Trump’s birthday note to Epstein…because Congress obtained the letter.”

“You accused me of not reading a court document that you cited as proof that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a ‘convicted MS-13 gang member.’ He is not, the document didn’t say that, and your tweet ended up as evidence in a trial the government lost.”

“I could go on, but you get the point. Have a blessed day.”

READ MORE: ‘Weak and Losing’: Trump’s Threat Against ABC Over Kimmel Return Slammed

 

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‘Maybe Some’: Jordan Concedes Trump’s Latest ABC Threat Was Government Pressure

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4 hours ago

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September 24, 2025

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U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) acknowledged that President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night threat against ABC, over reinstating late-night host Jimmy Kimmel amounted to — at least in part — government pressure. Congressman Jordan serves as the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

“I think we’re going to test ABC out on this,” Trump wrote as part of a social media post. “Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative.”

CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Jordan, “You tell me whether you think this sounds like coercion or not,” before reading Trump’s remarks.

READ MORE: ‘Weak and Losing’: Trump’s Threat Against ABC Over Kimmel Return Slammed

“Well, I mean,” Jordan began, “I don’t think you can you can say this is, uh, this is the pressure from the government, because ABC put him back on.”

Trump’s remarks came after ABC reinstated Kimmel.

“So how is that? How is that the government’s taking them off the air when in fact, the ABC themselves, Disney, made the decision?” he asked.

Sorkin pressed on, saying, “there’s pressure, but it may not be successful pressure, but it’s pressure from the government.”

“Um, yeah,” Jordan replied. “I guess you can, you can say, maybe some, but I don’t, I don’t think that’s what drove it. I think this was a business decision.”

When asked about his fellow Republicans, including U.S. Senator Ted Cruz,  denouncing the FCC’s tactics against Disney/ABC, saying government shouldn’t be in the business of regulating speech, Jordan was more specific.

READ MORE: UN Suggests Trump’s Own Team Triggered Escalator and Teleprompter Problems: Report

“Fair enough,” he said. “Uh, and, look, I’m I think we should be defending your right to speak —most important right we have under the First Amendment.”

“I always say, if you can’t speak, you can’t practice your faith, you can’t share your faith, you can’t petition your government, you don’t have a free press.”

“So the right to speak is so important,” Jordan concluded.

In addition to Cruz, Senators Rand Paul(R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and other Republicans have expressed concern.

READ MORE: ‘Red Flag’: Stephen Miller Accused of ‘Reviving Fascist Rhetoric’ at Kirk Memorial

 

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‘Weak and Losing’: Trump’s Threat Against ABC Over Kimmel Return Slammed

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5 hours ago

on

September 24, 2025

By

When Disney/ABC suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel last week, Trump supporters quickly rallied to the President’s defense, insisting that Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr had not threatened the media company and that President Donald Trump was uninvolved in either the FCC’s actions or Disney’s decision. His critics — and even some prominent supporters — disagreed.

The President last night strongly suggested in a social media post that the critics were correct.

Back in July, Trump suggested that several late-night hosts should, or would, be fired — among them, Kimmel.

“The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s show. “These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television. It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”

READ MORE: UN Suggests Trump’s Own Team Triggered Escalator and Teleprompter Problems: Report

The President’s supporters — some perhaps mindful of the First Amendment implications of a sitting president pressuring for a talk show’s cancellation and of the FCC chairman’s threats against Disney/ABC — have been insisting the suspension (or “cancellation”) was nothing more than a business decision driven by ratings and profits.

The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins wrote one week ago: “A lot of the people currently mocking government-censorship concerns about the Kimmel suspension seem genuinely to have missed that the FCC Chair straightforwardly threatened ABC over his monologue: ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way.’”

On Tuesday night, President Trump lashed out, appearing to threaten ABC with some form of action after it decided to end Kimmel’s suspension.

READ MORE: ‘Red Flag’: Stephen Miller Accused of ‘Reviving Fascist Rhetoric’ at Kirk Memorial

“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” Trump wrote on his social media website Tuesday night. “The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there. Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE. He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”

Kimmel’s first show back, Tuesday night, reportedly drew massive viewership on YouTube, according to CNN, after the two largest ABC affiliate owners, Sinclair and Nexstar, refused to air the show.

Sarah Longwell, founder and publisher of The Bulwark, on Wednesday responded to Trump’s latest threat, writing: “It’s important to remember that anyone who argued that ABC wasn’t acting at the behest of government pressure is both a liar and a fool.”

Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias also weighed in on the President’s comment: “A lot of right-wing people keep trying to explain that what’s going on with Trump and Kimmel isn’t the government trying to censor network television but Trump keeps clarifying that’s exactly what’s happening.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted the President’s threat on Wednesday:

“This is a test of democracy,” Leader Schumer told MSNBC. “That is what dictatorships do. That is what autocracies do. And Trump seems to have this penchant that anyone he doesn’t agree with, he wants to shut up. That’s a dagger to the heart of America.”

The New Republic’s Greg Sargent looked at Trump’s remarks from a different angle:

“Trump’s explosion of rage last night over ABC’s reinstatement of Jimmy Kimmel shouldn’t be greeted with fear and weepy hand-wringing. It should be seen as a sign that his authoritarian designs are running into very deep resistance and that he’s weak and losing on many fronts.”

READ MORE: ‘Advancing a Divisive Feminist Agenda’: Pentagon Axes 74-Year Old Committee

 

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