In a recent declaration of Pulse Remembrance Day, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered flags at half-staff in honor of the victims of the infamous Pulse Nightclub tragedy but he made no mention of the LGBTQ+ or Hispanic communities.
“Nine years ago, on June 12, 2016, a shooter claiming alliance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant committed a horrific act of terrorism at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Forty-nine people were killed and fifty-three were wounded,” the news release says.
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“This isn’t the end of the legal road — or the fight for free expression in Florida.”
“As a mark of respect for the victims, their families, and the many affected by this tragedy, I hereby direct the flags of the United States and the State of Florida to be flown at half-staff at all local and state buildings, installations, and grounds throughout the State of Florida from sunrise to sunset on Thursday, June 12, 2025.”
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The shooter targeted the nightclub, a popular adult venue for LGBTQ+ individuals and the Latino community. During his first year as Governor, DeSantis failed to mention either community initially – however, he updated his resolution following backlash every year since.
Now, he neglected to make mentions of either group targeted by a horrific hate crime. U.S. Senator Rick Scott, a Republican who also was Florida’s governor when the shooting occurred, made mention of both communities in a public statement.
Brandon Wolf, a Pulse survivor and current spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, said to the Orlando Sentinel, “Gov. DeSantis’ erasure of the LGBTQ+ and Latino communities today may say a lot about what kind of person he is, but it doesn’t change the fact that those were the communities most directly impacted at Pulse.”
“His erasure doesn’t change the fact that families have empty seats at dinner tables, friends have missing faces at birthday parties, and our communities still bear the scars.”
Florida State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a gay Latino who represents the district Pulse is in, criticized DeSantis.
“The governor’s lack of consistency here shows he cares more about scoring political points in the moment than authentic solidarity with his own constituents,” he said to the Orlando Sentinel.
Importantly, however, he added that he didn’t want to “focus on the governor’s bigotry and exclusion. That’s already known. Thursday should be about remembering the 49 lives taken by gun violence and their families.”
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