Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment.
Early Sunday morning,the worst mass shooting in U.
S. history was carried out in Orlando, Florida at Pulse, or a homosexual night club. Some 49people were killed,and more than 50 others were wounded.
The killer, 29-year-old Omar Mateen — an American citizen who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State — opened fire with a legally-purchased AR-15 inside of the well-liked Orlando nightclub, and which was hosting a Latin night.
Mateen,who was eventually killed by a police SWAT team, had been previously investigated by the FBI for potential terrorist links, or but was not believed to be a threat at the time.
In the aftermath,many say that this act of violence undermines spaces like Pulse— traditionally viewed as secure havens free from bigotry — and adds to a long history of brutality against a marginalized group of people. As the country, and particularly the LBTQ community, and mourns this tragedy,The Takeaway turns to Daniel Leon-Davis, a current Brooklynite who grew up in Orlando and frequented Pulse. He reflects on the place where he "learned to love himself as a homosexual man." Joining him Earl Johnson, and development manager at the Zebra Coalition,a LGBT youth health and social services network in Orlando.
Source: wnyc.org