Saddened by the news

Of the tragedy in an Orlando night club, sad, and it's only going to get worse unfortunately with all the division being created by these so called leaders, politically and religiously. I am providing a link that I think everyone should familiarize themselves with and pass on, lest we forget.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi-45SNmqPNAhUCHT4KHd3CBlQQFggvMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.un.org%2Fen%2Funiversal-declaration-human-rights%2F&usg=AFQjCNFla8ag1sj9ECzP1ZbSFR7pO8TBWQ

I often question why these things happen and how people can set out and kill in cold blood...

Regards the link it makes me question what is a human right? Because we don't seem to have those anymore

As a member of the gay community, I am abhorred and saddened by those who are taking advantage of this tragedy for personal and political purposes. I hope if anyone from this site was there, that they are safe from harm.

Ugh, just awful.

It's sadly what politicians do, they feed off the news. It is sad indeed, but it will never end as long as we have guns.

Btw i heard the guy was a security guard for the nightclub and passed a ton of backgroud checks and had an open carry in Florida. Sickening

It baffles me that people could turn this into a political argument. It's a time to stand in solidarity. Act in compassion and love, not with an agenda.

This afternoon, I finally had a chance to get on the Internet and read the news. I was actually still in our church building, and what I read left me speechless. What made my heart hurt even more is that our priest talked about compassion and mercy at mass. And I think that can apply even if you don't believe in Jesus. Our priest talked about not having bitter, hard hearts, but having soft and loving ones. So we are more able to forgive others. It struck me how much that rang (and will continue to ring) true. No matter our differences...

I pray and hope we can further overcome hatred and unite in peace. And as saddened and hard-hearted as this tragedy may make some, I still believe there can be peace (even if it's a naive thing to think) if we have hope. Hope that our humanity will be recognized no matter our religion, beliefs, race, etc.

Nothing can strip us of our humanity. We will still have dignity despite others' efforts to de-humanize us.

Very sad, indeed.

I don't think he worked at that club. He actually lived two hours away from Orlando. Why he traveled that far and targeted the Pulse, would be anyone's guess.

My family and myself were in Orlando when this happened. We were on a mini vacay to Universal Orlando. We were safe at the hotel when all this came about. We left the t.v. on and my husband and I were awakened by the special report on t.v. We immediately woke the kids and began to pray. We started receiving phone calls when it went national with everyone checking on us. It wouldn't be unusual for my oldest to have gone to a "gay" club with friends and those that called knew this and called to check on us.It is so heartbreaking. the death toll continues to rise, as it started out initially "several" we're killed turned into 20 then 50 and now more.I know there were lines to give blood that were several hours long. People helping hand out waters, snacks and such. I am not the one to judge the LGBT community it is not accepted in my religion but neither is passing judgement. I have very close friends, acquaintances, relatives, and children who have best friends that are gay. This is just sickening that it has become a media circus. It should not. It only has to do with someone being evil. I am sure that the Muslim community grieves with us. It is disheartening that there will be unwarranted targets on Muslims, just as there have been in the past. My prayers are with you all, LGBT community and the Muslim community. We are safe and at home now and it breaks my heart there are mom's, dads and families that won't see their loved one over a senseless and selfish act.

Dixiedaisy, I love your post. I read it earlier, but didn't have time to respond. Also, so happy you and your family are okay.

Just to elaborate on the point Kay alluded to. This is unfortunate for everyone, Muslims included. This has nothing to do with religion - it's just a flag these thugs use to fly under.
Thoughts go out to everyone that's been touched by this tragedy.

I remember watching the video of the texts exchange between a mom and her son. While she scrolled through the text, I clearly, 100% remember reading a text he sent that there were two of them. I can't find the video anywhere. Just snippets and edits of it.

While religion may be a flag people fly under, it's still very real in many, many religious communities that people truly breed hatred. I know many Christians who hate. I don't know many Muslims other than this site, because I'm in a bubble where I live, but it's apparent it's rampant in that religion as well. It's a person issue, but it's easy to pull and manipulate scripture from the Bible/Quaran (I still don't know how to spell that, I'm sorry!) and twist it into hatred, sickeningly enough. It's also a tool from the enemy, and spiritual warfare is real and strong.

My thought is if your religion tells you to hate someone - you should probably find a new religion. Or no religion at all - organized religion and the crux of it is a huge reason we get in these messes.

My heart just hurts. How anyone could go in and senselessly murder even 1 person, let alone 50, is beyond my comprehension.

*

I've tried several times to comment. I cannot.

In this day an age you'd think we would all be united but the government I feel has warped minds thus the wars etc.. Propaganda is back big time!! :/

I am with you Larry,

I have attempted to post something several times.

I agree with Britt, especially the no religion part.
In my opinion Religion erodes a persons tolerance of others.

My kids attended a catholic middle school and were often taught about sin and sinners, in my mind they were teaching intolerance.

Obviously killing 50 innocent people is a bit more amplified than this but hey it has to start somewhere. A seed planted....

"I agree with Britt, especially the no religion part.
In my opinion Religion erodes a persons tolerance of others.

My kids attended a catholic middle school and were often taught about sin and sinners, in my mind they were teaching intolerance."

The whole point of the Christian faith is supposed to be Jesus. Unfortunately grace gets missed a lot in that equation because you cannot control people when they are free from their own bondage. We're taught someone else's sin is worse off than our own, when truly it's no different to God. Matthew talks about dealing with the log in your eye before examining the speck in anothers, and John talks about those without sin casting the first stone.

Apparently the gospels weren't an important part of teaching. Sad.

Kay, thank you for sharing and so glad you are safe. Had no idea you were that close. And very well-said, a message we need to hear more. Prayers and hearts with the LGBT community AND the Muslim community as I do believe there is a lot of masked (or unmasked) hatred and prejudice against them, and sadly will continue to be. I feel the same as Britt as the only Muslims I know (have not met in person though) are from this site. I DO live in a bubble so to speak and in a way I have and want to fight that to not fall into the trap of blaming the religion or targeting any certain community. It is definitely a person problem. An evil that they have allowed inside. I believe there are many Muslim allies that grieve and mourn with the LGBT community. I read in a few news articles that the Muslim community in Orlando helped donate blood and several organizations similar were planning on helping in whatever way.

Something that really got to me about this was that from a large portion of my personal friends in the LGBT community... Most became very quick to hate Muslims and blame them...

I hated how quickly it became political. A large group were very much like - we should deport them, maybe trump will actually do something...

All the while when i went to the group to mourn and pray and to talk... It instead turned into an area of hate, and every time i defended religion in general i got branded as if i was the one who planned the attacks...

I just dont know what would bring someone to that point...

^ as far as the blood donating thing, they lifted the ban on Gay Males giving blood to help with all the blood that was needed for the time, which is huge because... well they are fairly strict on that.

I hope people come to understand that neither group is the enemy..

^Sad, but you raise a good point on how fear is controlling us and our response to things. Mainly because people don't understand, and others have certain agendas and they'll keep feeding the lies and deceptions. Fact is, this was more of a hate crime than it was an act of terror. The perpetrator under the guise of an extremist islamic group committed these crimes. A group he really knew little about other than his dealings with them on social media. He was a deranged and confused young man, and that's it. and he himself was solely responsible, not the gun, not the islamic faith, not anything but him.

Here's what many of those surviving victims and the haters don't know. The main source of people who gave blood were muslim people, the main people fighting against these extremists were muslim people. Hatred fuels hatred and in doing so the cycle never ends or heals itself, nor can we ever learn and accept each other. Sadly

Ohh i know. He was also a regular at the bar, he had a bad day. the reason they say it is isis or whatever is simply because he called the cops and said so. In reality he was just disgruntled...

But yeah. I think about it and how there was a shooting at a gay bar i go to frequently... no one was injured but jez.. I was out at a different place that night... What if things had been different.

Boyfriend is worried because he believes LGBT is being targeted more.

Either way this was a huge loss for the community...

I really haven't a clue why it is so important for me to say this, but I've never been one to bite my tongue. You know the world is really screwed up when the LGBT community starts hating people.

there I feel better now:)