Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 317, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 14, 2016 Page: 3 of 18
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ORLANDO ATTACK
3A
Denton Record-Chronicle
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
‘The sanctuary has been defiled’
Gay clubs long have
been a vital part of
LGBT culture, history
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By David Crary
Associated Press
NEW YORK — like many
gay men across America, Jamie
Brown has treasured memories
of nights spent reveling at a gay
club, a boisterous community
gathering place where he could
feel safe and be himself. He re-
members it as a sanctuary.
After the nightclub massacre
in Orlando, Florida, “it just won’t
be the same,” Brown wrote in an
emotional Facebook post. “The
sanctuary has been defiled.”
Sunday’s attack on the Pulse
nightclub, in which gunman
Omar Mateen killed 49 people
before dying in a gun battle,
prompted an outpouring of
reminiscence and reflection on
the vital roles that such clubs
have played for many lesbians,
gays, bisexuals and transgender
people across the U.S.
“Clubs are terribly important
to the LGBT community” said
Ken Darling, owner of the Min-
neapolis club LUSH.
“It’s where we can be our-
selves, develop relationships, be
with your community,” he said.
“It’s where our history is.”
Indeed, one of pivotal mo-
ments of the gay-rights move-
ment revolved around a gay bar
in New York City, the Stonewall
Inn. A police raid there in 1969
led to violent street riots that
emboldened gay activists na-
tionwide.
After the Orlando shooting,
clusters of flowers were laid out-
side the StonewaU’s door. Among
them was a bouquet of white ros-
es, accompanied by this message:
“Never stop dancing.”
The club that holds such a
fond place in Jamie Brown’s
memory is called Hula’s, in one
of Honolulu’s edgier neighbor-
hoods. He was stationed in Ha-
waii with the Army two decades
ago as a 21-year-old, in an era
when being outed as gay would
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David Goldman/AP
Tatiana Osorio, of Orlando, cries whi le giving blood Monday at
the OneBlood blood center near the nightclub where Sun-
day’s shooting occurred. Osorio lost three friends in the
shooting.
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FBI: No indication
shooter was part
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Mark Lennihan/AP
Zoe Feldman kneels in front of a makeshift memorial Monday in front of New York’s Stonewall
Inn to remember the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla.
lead to ouster from the military.
“I imagine that a lot of young
gay people could feel the same
way about their own regular
weekend hot spot as I did about
Hula’s,” Brown wrote in his post.
“It’s where you go when you
don’t want to lie... It’s where you
go to connect, to experience
community, forget your secret,
and to combat the isolation that
a secret of that magnitude can
cause.”
“Sometimes he would go over
in the comer and sit and drink by
himself and other times he would
get so drunk he was loud and bel-
ligerent,” said Ty Smith. Smith
said he saw the killer inside at
least a dozen times.
At the White House, Presi-
dent Barack Obama said there is
no clear evidence so far that Ma-
teen was directed by the group,
calling the attack an apparent ex-
ample of “homegrown extrem-
ism.”
and see all these other people
who were just like you, and you
felt this sense of community that
you didn’t know existed.”
That communal sprit was es-
pecially powerful at holiday par-
ties, said Guequierre, recalling
times when he would have
Thanksgiving dinner with his
family in a small town about an
hour from Milwaukee, then
drive back to the city for the
nighttime revelry at a club.
In Madison, Wisconsin,
members of the LGBT commu-
nity still harbor fond memories
of the Hotel Washington, abuild-
ing housing a gay bar, dance club,
restaurant and music hall that
burned down in 1996.
‘We still miss it,” said Mi-
chael Bruno, 60, who some-
times served as a master of cere-
monies there. “I don’t think the
community has ever rebounded
from its loss.”
There’s a Facebook page de-
voted to memories of the place.
A reunion picnic is scheduled for
this August.
“It was such a wonderful, safe
place,” said Bruno. “Everyone
was welcome — no one was
made to feel ostracized.”
Across the country, many gay
bars served as venues for vigils
or commemorations honoring
the victims of the Orlando at-
tack.
By Jason Dearen
and Terrance Harris
Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. — The gun-
man whose attack on a gay night-
club left 49 victims dead appears
to have been a “homegrown ex-
tremist” who espoused support
for a jumble of often-conflicting
Islamic radical groups, the White
House and the FBI said Monday.
As Orlando mourned its dead
with flowers, candles and vigils,
counterterrorism investigators
dug into the background of 29-
year-old Omar Mateen, the
American-born Muslim who car-
ried out the deadliest mass shoot-
ing in modem U.S. history.
“So far, we see no indication
that this was a plot directed from
outside the United States, and we
see no indication that he was part
of any kind of network,” said FBI
Director James Comey. But he
said Mateen was clearly “radical-
ized,” at least in part via the inter-
At LUSH in Minneapolis —
where weekend brunches rival
drag performances as favored
attractions
patrons were
brimming with emotion on
Sunday as details of the Orlando
shooting emerged.
“It was exactly the right place
to be — in my bar with all the
people I care about,” said Ken
Darling. “There was singing and
laughing. There were tears and
hugs of love, not tears and hugs
of fear and foreboding.”
Nonetheless, the attack was
sobering, he said.
“We in the LGBT community
have had to live with this threat
Now 42, Brown lives in Co-
lumbia, South Carolina, and
works as a brain-wave analyst for
a hospital system. Two years ago,
he married his longtime partner;
they go out to dubs infrequently,
usually for special occasions.
“When we do go, you still
have that nostalgia,” he said.
Paul Guequierre, now 38 and
working for the American Con-
stitution Society in Washington,
D.C, says he has vivid memories
of his first visit to a gay bar as a
21-year-old college student in
Milwaukee.
“It was so exciting,” he said.
“You walk into a club as a young
gay man, barely out of the closet,
More details of the bloodbath
emerged, with Orlando Police
Chief John Mina saying Mateen
was “cool and calm” during phone
calls with police negotiators. But
the chief said he decided to send
the SWAT team in and bash
through a wall after Mateen
holed up with hostages in a bath-
room and began to talk about
bombs and an explosive vest
‘We knew there would be an
imminent loss of life,” Mina said.
As it turned out, Mateen had no
explosives with him.
Five of the wounded were re-
ported in grave condition, mean-
ing the death toll could rise. A call
went out for blood donations.
In Orlando, mourners piled
bouquets around a makeshift
memorial, and people broke
down in tears and held their
hands to their faces while passing
through the growing collection of
flowers, candles and signs about a
mile from the site ofthe massacre.
We will not be defined by the
act of a cowardly hater,” vowed
Mayor Buddy Dyer, whose city of
a quarter-million people is
known around the globe as the
home of Walt Disney World and
other theme parks.
The Islamic State’s radio
hailed the attack and called Ma-
teen “one of the soldiers of the ca-
liphate in America.” But it gave no
indication the group planned or
knew of the attack beforehand.
Mateen’s father, Seddique Mir
Mateen, wouldn’t go into details
about any religious or political
views his son held, saying he
didn’t know. Asked whether he
missed his son, he said: “I don’t
miss anything about him. What
he did was against humanity ’
of random violence forever,” he
said. We’ve had a lull where we
didn’t have to think about it, and
then something like this hap-
pens and we’re reminded what’s
out there — an ideology of hate
that’s directed toward us.”
net.
Comey said the bureau is also
trying to determine whether Ma-
teen had recently scouted Disney
World as a potential target, as re-
ported by People.com, which cit-
ed an unidentified federal law en-
forcement source.
We’re still working through
that,” Comey said.
The FBI chief defended the
bureau’s handling of Mateen dur-
ing two previous investigations
into his apparent terrorist sympa-
thies. As for whether there was
anything the FBI should have
done differently, “so far, the hon-
est answer is, I don’t think so,” Co-
mey said.
Despite Mateen’s pledge of fe-
alty to the Islamic State, a murky
combination of other possible
motives and explanations
emerged, with his ex-wife saying
he suffered from mental illness
and his Afghan-immigrant father
suggesting he may have acted out
of anti-gay hatred. He said his son
got angry recently about seeing
two men kiss.
The Orlando Sentinel and
other news organizations quoted
regular customers at the gay bar
as saying they had seen Mateen
there a number of times.
1 mother experienced horror of shooting via text
town. Call police.”
Then at 2:08: “I’m gonna
club — and all the complications
that might entail. Fear surged
through her as she waited for his
next message.
At 2:39 a.m., he responded:
“Call them mommy
Now.”
He wrote that he was in the
bathroom.
“He’s coming
I’m gonna die.”
Justice asked her son if any-
one was hurt and which bath-
room he was in.
“Lots. Yes,” he responded at
2:42 a.m.
When he didn’t text back, she
sent several more messages.
Was he with police?
“Text me please,” she wrote.
“No,” he wrote four minutes
later. “Still here in bathroom. He
has us. They need to come get
police were there and to let her
know when he saw them.
“Hurry,” he wrote. “He’s in the
bathroom with us.”
She asked, “Is the man in the
bathroom wit u?”
At 2:50 a.m.: “He’s a terror.”
Then, a final text from her
son a minute later: “Yes.”
More than 15 hours after that
text, Justice still hasn’t heard
from her son. She and a dozen
family and friends are at a hotel
that has become a staging area
for relatives awaiting news. Any
news.
By Tamara Lush
Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. - Mina
Justice was sound asleep when
she received the first text from
her son, Eddie Justice, who was
in the gay nightclub when a gun-
man opened fire in an attack
that left 49 patrons dead and
more than 50 wounded.
This is the conversation she
had over text message with her
30-year-old son:
“Mommy I love you,” the first
message said. It was 2:06 a.m.
“In club they shooting.”
Mina Justice tried calling her
30-year-old son. No answer.
Alarmed and half awake, she
tapped out a response.
“U ok”
At 2:07 a.m., he wrote:
“Trapp in bathroom.”
Justice asked what club, and
he responded: “Pulse. Down-
die.’
Now wide awake, Justice
dialed 911.
She sent a flurry of texts over
the next several minutes.
“I’m calling them now.
U still in there
Answer our damn phone
Call them
Call me.”
The 911 dispatcher wanted
her to stay on the line. She won-
dered what kind of danger her
son was in. He was normally a
homebody who liked to eat and
work out. He liked to make ev-
eryone laugh. He worked as an
accountant and lived in a condo
in downtown Orlando.
“lives in a sky house, like the
Jeffersons,” she would say. “He
lives rich.”
She knew he was gay and at a
“His name has not come up
yet and that’s scary. It’s just ...”
she paused and patted her heart.
“It’s just, I got this feeling. I got a
bad feeling.”
On Monday, her fears were
realized as another name was
added to the list of victims: Ed-
die Jamoldroy Justice.
us.
At 2:49 a.m., she told him the
World leaders express shock and condemnation at Sunday’s massacre
Muslim nations
The world’s largest body of
Muslim-majority nations con-
demned the mass shooting but
also warned against “political
campaigning and self-serving
agendas” in the wake of the trag-
music hall, restaurants and bars
and the main sports stadium
killed 130. That was preceded by
attacks on a satirical newspaper
and a kosher grocery store. All
were claimed by the Islamic
State group.
Britain
With tears, song and defi-
ance, thousands of people gath-
ered in London for a vigil in hon-
or of the victims.
Mourners packed narrow
Old Compton St. in Soho, the
heart of London’s gay nightlife
district, on Monday evening.
Bearing rainbow flags and signs
reading “stand with Orlando,”
Londoners observed two min-
utes’ silence, before 49 balloons
— one for each person killed —
were released into the air.
Senior politicians including
London Mayor Sadiq Khan
joined the vigil near the Admiral
Duncan pub, where three peo-
ple died and dozens were
wounded in a 1999 bomb attack
by a far-right extremist.
British lawmakers also held a
minute’s silence Monday after
what Home Secretary Theresa
May called “not just an act of ter-
ror but an act of homophobic
hatred.”
Queen Elizabeth II and
LGBT community. Rivlin sent
his condolences, saying there is
“no comfort for those who have
had their loved ones tom away
from them.”
The Orlando attack has dom-
inated news in Israel, which has
seen a wave of Palestinian at-
tacks in recent months. On
Wednesday two Palestinian
gunmen killed four people at a
popular shopping and restau-
rant area in Tel Aviv.
LGBT groups in Israel
planned rallies and other sup-
port for the community in Or-
lando.
By The Associated Press
From across the world, offi-
cials and public figures are ex-
pressing condemnation and
shock over the Florida mass
shooting at the Pulse Orlando
nightclub on Sunday, when po-
lice say a gunman wielding an
assault-type rifle opened fire,
killing at least 49 people and
wounding dozens.
France
The Eiffel Tower shone in the
colors of a rainbow on Monday
night, starting at 10:45 p.m. to
honor victims of the mass shoot-
ing at an Orlando gay club. Paris
City Hall began paying respects
in the afternoon with a display of
American and rainbow flags,
while French President Francois
Hollande condemned the mass
killing as an attack on freedom.
He vowed to toughen the fight
against terrorism “at the side of
the American people.”
“It’s American that was hit but
freedom that was targeted,” Hol-
lande said after signing a book of
condolences at the U.S. Embassy,
“freedom to choose one’s sexual
orientation, the freedom to deter-
mine one’s way of life.”
France feels deeply the hor-
ror of deadly attacks after the
November terror attacks on a
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The 57-nation Organization
of Islamic Cooperation said in a
statement Monday that “the
massacre, as terrible as it is,
must not be taken out of its con-
text as a domestic American
case.”
■>
r $
The OIC says it is concerned
that “hasty judgment” and “Isla-
mophobic discourse” have
emerged before a full investiga-
tion into the motivations and
causes of the attack.
The organization also con-
veyed its condolences to the
families of the victims of “this
horrible act.”
It says the teachings of Islam
are based on peace and toler-
ance, and that terrorism is a
crime against humanity.
_
Martin Meissner/AP
The Eiffel Tower in Paris shines in the colors of a rainbow
Monday to honor victims of Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlan-
do, Fla. People brought banners, flags and candles to the
Place Trocadero in front of the Paris landmark.
Russia
People have been bringing
flowers and rainbow flags to the
U.S. Embassy in Moscow to
show their solidarity with vic-
tims of the shooting since early
Monday.
An Associated Press reporter
saw two young men take out a
placard saying “Love wins” be-
fore police officers came up and
led them away.
Russia passed a law in 2013
banning the so-called propa-
ganda of gay relationships
among minors, which authori-
ties have used to ban any public
displays of support for the gay
community.
lignancy of a single person” cost
so many lives.
She added: “We are firmly
determined, even when such
murderous attacks put us into
deep sorrow, to continue with
our open, tolerant life.”
In downtown Berlin, dozens
of people have come together in
front of the U.S. Embassy to
mourn the victims of the Orlan-
do shooting. People were setting
white lilies and pink roses next
to teddy bears in front of a rain-
bow flag and an American flag.
Prime Minister David Cameron
have sent messages of condo-
lence from Britain for the attack.
Germany
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel says it’s important to
continue with “our open, toler-
ant life” following attacks such
as the mass shooting at an Or-
lando gay club.
Speaking during a visit to
China on Monday, Merkel said
that “we have a heavy heart” over
the fact that “the hatred and ma-
Israel
Israeli President Reuven Riv-
lin says in a letter to President
Barack Obama that Israel
stands “shoulder to shoulder
with our American brothers and
sisters” after the attack on the
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 317, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 14, 2016, newspaper, June 14, 2016; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1127375/m1/3/: accessed June 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .