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Orlando – a watershed?
The terrible killing in Orlando seem to have a number of complex dimensions and even the FBI have a great deal of work to do in establishing the background and dynamics – not helped by Trump and co. It is a little difficult therefore (unless one is Donald Trump) to be too dramatic in reflection on it. Yet, as we shared a moving vigil last night in my regional community, organised through the gradually emerging local LGBTI community, I was also left wondering whether this horrendous event may yet be part of a watershed.
I am struck, for example, by the way in which several US Catholic bishops have responded in a sensitive and humbled manner to LGBTI people. Maybe such awful carnage may bring some to at least slow the sex and gender wars? Certainly in my community, amid the sorrow and solidarity, there was a sense in which such an event cannot roll back the past but rather it will empower us to a new level, finally nailing homophobia, for example, as what it is – a (self) destructive mental illness afflicting individuals, particular groups and society as a whole.
In my community, this was only the second time the local council had also affirmed the LGBTI community publicly – lighting up a new central bridge in rainbow colours (and a good deal more easier to get permission this time round than for IDAHOT) – and I was impressed by the brilliant mutual networking at such short knowledge and the articulate confidence of some of our young people attending: light in the darkness for sure
Last week I heard Susan Cottrell, a strong US Pflag and LGBTI ally, speak about the journey she has made with the LGBTI community. Someone asked if marriage equality had made a positive difference in the USA – yes, she said, but also no: it had driven some hardliners into deeper denial and anger about their ‘defeat’. Perhaps the Pulse killings are a symptom of that negative aspect. I suspect however that they may also be impelling a fresh decisive stage in the growing watershed of more compassionate change.
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3 Replies
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I hope you are right Josephine. Another sign of changed community attitudes that cheered me up was when a couple of high profile politicians tried to express sympathy with the victims without mentioning they were part of the LGBTI community. Public and media opinion quickly pulled those pollies into line.
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It was amazing that we, at our local vigil, had a spokesperson, Susan Cottrell, and she was eloquent in her speech.
(I ended up on televison in an interview)
(not the best message, but I tried)
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Thanks Josephine
Thanks for your words. I can imagine that lots of people are torn between the absolute atrocity of what happened and how their safety in public is and has been. Sometimes it takes the worst in us humans to bring out the best – I sincerely wish it was not so. It is hard to not over-react to something like this with a vengeance. I am doubly committed to support anyone who is being picked on for their sexuality or any other diversity. What kind of person needs to get a f..ing machine gun to solve any problem? I am appalled by that and want to help in any way to fix this.Juliette
