On June 12, 2016, at Pulse in Orlando, a famous queer nightclub, 49 people were murdered in what remains one of the largest mass shootings against our communities since World War II. We have a duty to remember, so that we do not forget them, but also to continue the fight against LGBTIphobia. --- The history of LGBTI communities is marked by patriarchal and LGBTIphobic crimes. Our elders, those who are still with us, have experienced many of these tragedies against which only our solidarity and our rage allow us to survive: those that led to Stonewall, of course, but also the violence of the struggles for decriminalization, the devastating HIV epidemic and the homophobic policies that accompanied it, and so many others. For our younger generations-whose major achievements have included the fight for marriage equality, partial access to assisted reproductive technology, and the de-surgicalization of civil gender reassignment-Orlando is a landmark.
We don't forget, we don't pinkwash.
We remember where we were and what we were doing when we learned that in the United States, on the night of June 11-12, 2016, a man had entered an LGBTQ+ nightclub armed, killed 49 people, taken about 30 hostages, and wounded 53 others. We remember the shock of the unthinkable, of experiencing these mass murders again in our generation, the pain that pervaded Pride Month 2016.
Ten years ago in Orlando, a "Latin Night" event was held at Pulse, the famous nightclub opened by Barbara Poma in tribute to her brother John, who died of AIDS. The event featured performances and DJ sets by LGBTQ+ artists of color, particularly from the Puerto Rican community, a community doubly targeted by racism and LGBTQ+phobia. This shooting was the deadliest on American soil at the time and is still considered one of the most significant LGBTQ+ massacres in the West in the 21st century.
While the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack afterward, the shooter's family confirmed the primarily homophobic nature of his act. The Western media and political establishment were quick to exploit the attack for racist purposes, targeting Muslim communities and conflating homophobia with Islam. But let us remember that most of the victims of the Orlando attack were of Hispanic origin, and that in the United States, a predominantly Christian country, LGBTI people were already the most targeted minorities for hate crimes[1].
Let history not repeat itself. Ten years is a long time, but clearly not long enough for the blood to have dried. For several years now, with the rise of fascism worldwide, we have witnessed a massive resurgence of anti-LGBTI violence. The United States is a barometer of this, and it is a bad one. Indeed, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (a US-based NGO) has been warning for months about a genocidal risk against transgender people implemented by the Trump administration[2]: invalidation of driver's licenses if the registered gender differs from the gender assigned at birth, encouragement to report people allegedly using the wrong public restrooms, prohibition of the LGBTI label in school curricula, etc. History shows us that the removal of identity documents from a segment of the population dangerously precedes its eradication. Ten years later, our siblings are facing a new large-scale hate crime in the United States. Faced with both administrative and military violence, our communities' capacity to support one another determines our ability to defend ourselves.
To remember is also to commit to fighting to improve the living conditions of all living people. In far too many places around the world, we are still dying simply for being ourselves, whether this is the result of the choice of a single armed individual or of widespread state policies.
Siblinghood as the only response to fascism
We have learned through hard struggle that neither the state nor the police protect our lives: at best, they leave us alone to face LGBTIphobic hatred; at worst, they instigate it, including in Europe and France.
Examples include the anti-LGBTI laws in Hungary and Bulgaria (banning "LGBT propaganda" in schools and equating homosexuals with pedophiles), or the "LGBT-free zones" in Poland in 2021. But this is a broader phenomenon than just a few reactionary countries. Indeed, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has been warning for several years about the rise of hate speech in member states[3].
Analyzing the fallout from these recurring media portrayals of intolerance, she points to a strong correlation between the rise of racism and the rise of LGBTIphobia; in other words, the stronger the far right, the more the lives of marginalized people are endangered. The European Union, however, remains passive in the face of rising fascism. Proof of this lies in its refusal, in May 2026, to ban conversion therapies within its borders, under the pretext of not encroaching on the policies of member states. How can one not see this as collective cowardice in the face of the torture of hundreds of thousands of people in Europe and the policies that fund it?
Finally, in France, the figures are alarming: since 2022, it has steadily declined in the ranking of European countries respecting LGBTI rights, currently sitting in 15th place. As for its scores on ILGA Europe's Rainbow Map[4]: they are now barely 50% for respecting the rights of LGBTI asylum seekers, only 46% for legislation condemning hate crimes against LGBTI people, and shamefully 0% for respecting the integrity of intersex minors. Add to this a tripling of anti-LGBTI crimes and offenses between 2016 and 2024 and 1 in 3 LGBTI employees projected to be victims of assault or discrimination at work in 2026[5]; all this only too harshly reflects the violence that our communities face every day.
This year, we remember the 49 of our own who fell victim to the bullets of a homophobe 10 years ago. It is through struggle that we will honor their memory, so that we never have another Orlando.
Myriam and Ness (UCL Marseille)
TALKING ABOUT LGBTI TO BETTER FIGHT AGAINST injustice
Words are among the political tools of LGBTI struggles to deconstruct social norms. Knowing them is already a better ally.
* LGBTI: A term encompassing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex people.
* Aldephe: A neutral term, equivalent to "brother" or "sister."
* Gender self-determination: A concept referring to the individual's ability to determine their own gender, in opposition to the societal binary (male/female) system where our genders are arbitrarily assigned at birth.
* Cisgender: Refers to people whose gender identity is identical to the one assigned at birth. The opposite of transgender.
* Coming out/Outing: Coming out occurs when a person reveals their LGB sexual orientation or transgender identity. Conversely, a person is "outed" when their sexual orientation or gender identity is revealed without their consent.
* Drag: A performance art form inspired by theater and practiced within queer communities, based on a critique of gender norms.
* They/he: Neutral pronouns, equivalent to "she" or "he" and "she" or "him."
* Intersectionality: A sociological concept developed by Kimberley Williams Crenshaw that analyzes how social oppressions intersect (for example, class, race, and gender), multiplying the violence experienced by those who experience them.
* Misgendering a person: Referring to a person by a gender other than their own, through pronouns, an identity, or their deadname (abandoned birth name).
* Non-binary: encompasses genders other than male and female and is included in the "T" of LGBTI. We speak of non-binary people.
* Passing/gender expression: refers to the appearance by which one is perceived socially.
* Gendered or gender-minoritized people: refers to people who experience misogyny, namely women, non-binary people, and trans men.
* Queer: initially an English-language insult directed at LGBTI people, the term has been reclaimed by them as a symbol of identity pride and a political movement for emancipation from gender and sexuality norms.
* FTM/MTF gender transition: refers to changing one's gender, from a male to a female identity, or vice versa. A gender transition can also be to a non-binary gender.
Validate
[1]2014 figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
[2]"United States: Trans People Facing the Risk of Genocide," Alternative Libertaire no. 370, April 2026.
[3]European Parliamentary Research Service, "Hate Speech and Hate Crime Targeting LGBTI People," January 2025.
[4]ILGA Europe is an NGO that brings together more than 750 LGBTI organizations in Europe and Central Asia. Each year, it conducts a review of LGBTI policies and updates a Rainbow Map, defining the percentage of progress on rights in different countries. The figures used are those from 2026.
[5]Figures from the Inequality Observatory.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Memoire-LGBTI-Orlando-10-ans-apres-une-tuerie-qui-resonne-encore
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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