So sad, the club seemed to be having a Latin-themed party planned for the night. Their Facebook page had a fun, happy video posted for the event hours before this all happened.

Violence is so senseless. No matter the color, creed, sexuality or anything of a person, in the end we are just that - people. We need to stand by one another, not bring ourselves down.

Here are to the families of the fallen, and to those who are fighting for their lives currently. Be strong, be strong together.

I cried. But, whenever something bad happens to anyone in the LBGTQIA community it hits me pretty hard. The push back from some in this country after gay marriage was legalized has become pretty appalling. I mean the whole bullshit bathroom business and now this... I just don't even know how one can justify killing 50+ people just because they saw two dudes kissing, jfc.

I really hope the families and friends who have been affected by this senselessness can find some sort comfort in their time of grief.

I see this as a hate crime, not a terrorist attack. The despicable person who did this was homophobic and just happened to be Muslim. It's a tragedy that someone had so much hate in their heart that they did this. They ended the lives of fifty people. My prayers go to their families and friends.

It's both terrorist and an hate crime. And I just can't understand why people are so mean.

It's not like they're going force their sexualities on everyone.

Because they are sick and twisted individuals. Sane people don't commit mass murder.

Of course this was a terrorist attack. If you go into a building with the intent to kill as many people inside as possible, you are a terrorist. And, yes, it was also a hate crime. This man had an outspoken history of homophobia and "lashed out" after seeing a gay couple kissing in public. He waited until Pride month, on Latin Night, when trans POC were advertised at this gay venue, to make a move. He specifically targeted the LGBTQ community.

This man was an American citizen who had little history of being religious, but who did have a history of outspoken homophobic bigotry and abusive behavior against his wife. Even if he winds up having more connections to ISIS than one phone call, Islam does not teach hate and violence. ISIS is a group of radicals that do not represent the vast, vast majority of the religion (and don't forget that LGBT Muslims also exist, and are also in mourning - not to mention at a much higher risk of retaliatory violence after this). I've noticed that most Christians sure don't like being compared to the Westboro Baptist Church, and yet...

As others have pointed out, US politicians have introduced over TWO HUNDRED anti-LGBT laws in the last SIX MONTHS, never mind our illustrious history of LGBT hate (never forget Greenwitch Village and all the people that died at the hands of their landlords, died while the government twiddled their thumbs on approving life-saving medications and laughed, died on the steps of hospitals and the white house because no one took AIDS seriously, because no one wanted to touch them -- millions. And that was just one horrific snapshot in time). It's essentially legal to kill a trans person as long as you use the "trans panic" defense, which is only illegal in one state (and these bathroom bills are making this climate MUCH, much worse). It's legal in many places to put LGBT kids through what is recognized as torture (aka "conversion therapy"). It is legal to bully a child to suicide if they are gay because of the "religious freedom" of the bully.

We are dying every. single. DAY, often on the streets (something like 40% or more of the US' homeless kids are LGBT, and that's just the kids) in this country and everyone wants to pretend like "you have marriage now, what more could you possibly want??" IDK, stop killing us? Most of us can't even afford to get married in the first place because we can't get decent jobs or keep our housing due to our identities?

Politicians who have never cared about my community are now using this to promote their hateful agenda... And I do have to point out that the USA literally created ISIS in the first place with our political interference in the middle east. Not to mention the fact that we tend to glorify mass shooters (the Columbine shooters have a cult following) and have more of them than pretty much anywhere else; they pull stunts like this for the attention, and our media eagerly complies.

We cannot possibly hope to stop this kind of violence if we refuse to look at where it originates, and that starts with accountability within our own culture, one that not only absolutely perpetuates this violence and always has, but then insists on staying silent about it. Trying to take all the blame and shove it onto the current hot topic in the media not only denies any homegrown responsibility, but it's only going to create more violence. As a part of the LGBTQ community the last thing I want to see is innocent, peaceful Muslim folks (especially my fellow LGBT ones!!!) getting attacked and harassed because of "radical Islam". Which unfortunately, is very likely to happen, and I am so scared. I am terrified for my Muslim brothers and sisters. ISIS may claim responsibility, but they are not Islam. They are a terrorist group that we created with our political actions, and no one else needs to die or get hurt because of misplaced hate.

These are observations and feelings based on my own lived experience and the lived experience of my friends, of loved ones, of hundreds of thousands of my LGBTQ siblings whose voices are still not being heard, even after all of this. I'm hurt, and upset, and scared, and heartbroken, and angry; my friends are terrified to go to Pride now, scared to leave their homes, scared to come out to anyone else. Gay marriage did not end LGBT hate, not by a long shot. In fact, this last year since marriage was legalized has been the DEADLIEST on record for trans folx -- as in, more trans people have been murdered in the last year than ever before.

The first step to fixing our problem is admitting that we have one. If we are truly committed to ending the hate and the violence, it needs to start there. Doing anything else is an insult to the memory of everyone who died on Sunday morning for doing nothing more than being who they were and trying to find community and safety and joy in each other.

I'm not saying anything else about this because this whole thing has been very upsetting for me and my loved ones, I'm shaking right now just going thru it all again, but I feel like not saying something would be copping out, and doing a disservice to my community and those who died.

If any of my LGBTQIA+ peers are similarly feeling lost and upset and in need of someone to commiserate/cry with, my inbox is always open, you can sMail me any time, please don't be afraid. We need our sense of community now even more than usual.

Likewise, someone was caught with guns and the makings of a bomb on the way to LA pride this weekend, so if any of you are going to any kind of Pride events this month, please, please be vigilant and stay safe. I love all of you. <3

It's been a difficult week, but we've had vigils, blood drives that have had the support of so many people and gofundme pages are already collecting so much money to help the victims and their families. We're all in this together.

So sad about this. I'm not a part of the LGBTQ community, but I consider myself an ally. I'm an ally of anyone who is for peace and love and not war and hate. I don't understand, for the life of me, why people can't talk about their problems, why we can't all just be cool to each other. We don't all have to agree, hell, we don't even all have to like each other. But can't we all just agree to disagree and be human at least? You don't like someone's religion/orientation/etc.? Fine, don't look at them/deal with them/etc. You don't have to shoot them. For fuck's sake, that's just messed up.

I'm going to Miami to visit a friend in July and we were probably going to hit up a club or two. Now I'm nervous to - what if there's someone else out there going to do something like this? And I detest that I'm now afraid to go out to a club because of this one asshole.