No Words...

I've been trying to put my thoughts together, in a cohesive way, to figure out how to address the shooting at Pulse Orlando.

There are no words to explain the horror of, what amounts to a massacre. I have struggled to figure out what I feel about it. Anger, shock, sadness.

I woke up to a Facebook feed full of news of the shootings. Sadly, we're becoming numbed to the news of shootings. When the initial numbers were in the 20's, my thoughts were, how horrible, and I was almost glad that it was such a low number. Because, it could've been so much worse.

The reasons why it happened began to come out, and that was when I started to question my complacency with the brutal murder of at least 20 people. And, not just people. Gay people. During Pride month.

The shooter was offended by two men kissing. And, that potentially was a reason for him shooting these people? So, that makes it a Hate Crime, right?

Then, news came out that he was potentially part if Isis, and an Islamic extremist. So, that, therefore makes it a terror attack, because he claimed it in the name of Isis.

So, how do we properly grieve for these people? And, how do we move forward?

This weekend was Pride, in a number of cities, including Boston and Philadelphia  (cities that are close to my heart). Portland's Pride week is just about to start. And, Shaunna Rai is booked for a number of events, including judging the parade on Saturday.

Like so many people, my first instinct is to say, "Eh, I don't think I want to go. Because, what if what happened, happens here?" But, life goes on. And we can't spend the rest of our lives hiding scared. If we do, we lose. The bad guys win. 

The way to move on is to remain true to yourself. Don't let your fear disrupt your life. Keep being yourself. Keep loving who you love. And make sure your loved ones know that you love them...just in case...but they'll appreciate it either way.

To my knowledge, I have not lost anyone. But, friends from Boston and Philly have. My heart goes out to them, and all the families and friends of the victims. Nobody deserves to die just for being gay. Nobody should have to fear going out, for a night of fun. This should never have happened.

It's scary though. Roxxxy Andrews and Kenya Michaels  (both Drag Race alumni) were at Pulse. Both, luckily are safe and sound. But, so many were not so fortune.

We can blame who we like...the Islams, the President, the Republicans and the NRA, the Democrats, or whomever. But, the truth is, until we stop trying to place blame on this person or that, we will never make any progress, and tragedies like this will continue to be the norm in our society.

What needs to happen, is that we need to look at what current policies are. We need to find a way to protect our own people. If someone is a two time FBI person of interest, they probably shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun.  (Just my opinion.) And, we, as one of the "Super Powers of the World," need to stop sitting idly by, while we are being attacked on our own soil.  Vigilance is not a bad thing.