12 June 2016
Pulse Nightclub Mass Shooting in Orlando
Discrimination International
In the early hours of 12 June 2016, a gunman opened fire at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando hosting its weekly Latin Night, killing 49 people and wounding 53 others before being killed by police. It was the deadliest attack on LGBTQ+ people in modern US history and, at the time, the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in the United States. The majority of victims were of Latino descent.
Impact & Significance
Shocked the world and led to renewed calls for both gun control and LGBTQ+ protections, while highlighting the intersecting vulnerabilities of queer people of colour.
Reference Record
- Date
- 12 June 2016
- Era
- 2010-2019
- Sources
- 1
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Questions This Event Helps Answer
Q How did HIV/AIDS change public health and activism? HIV/AIDS changed public health by forcing faster surveillance, treatment approval, community-led prevention, visible memorialisation and international awareness. Q How did equality law change public services and workplaces? It moved LGBTQ+ equality into services, employment, schools and official data rather than leaving it only as criminal-law reform. Q How did anti-LGBTQ+ violence shape public memory? Major attacks and murders became remembered as community, legal and political turning points, not only as criminal cases.
