On June 12th, 2016, 49 lives were lost to anti-LGBTQ ignorance and hatred at the Pulse Orlando Night Club. That night, 49 people were murdered, and dozens more injured, in a senseless hate crime against the LGBTQA+ community, in what was deemed, at the time, the most deadly shooting in U.S. history. As we continue to observe the Pulse Orlando anniversary, we will remember our lost family (communities of color and allies), as we continue to mobilize and rise up to conquer hate. Thirty-two (32) of the victims were Latinx, nineteen (19) were from Puerto Rico. Their names are below. Remember them.
We are committed to standing united to take on homophobia in the most fierce way possible. We report on exclusive stories that touch on hands-on activism, collective intersectionalities, education, truth and our collective raging love for one another, to resist the bigotry that continues to be directed against this marginalized community—through “religious” tactics rooted in bigotry—emboldened by the words directly coming from the White House.
But today, we honor the lives of the 49 fallen ones, their legacy, their teachings through how freely and openly they lived their lives, even daringly at times. We will not forget. We will continue to remember them.
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34, Florida
Stanley Almodovar III, 23, Florida
Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22,
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36, Orlando, Florida
Luis S. Vielma, 22, Sanford, Florida
Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22, Puerto Rico
Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20, Puerto Rico
KJ Morris, 37, Connecticut
Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30, Florida
Darryl Roman Burt II, 29, Virginia
Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32, South Carolina
Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25, Puerto Rico
Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35, Puerto Rico
Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50, Puerto Rico
Amanda Alvear, 25, Florida
Martin Benitez Torres, 33, Puerto Rico
Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37, Puerto Rico
Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26, New York
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35, Puerto Rico
Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25, Puerto Rico
Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26, Dominican Republic
Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31, Venezuela
Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25, New York
Miguel Angel Honorato, 30, Mexico
Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40, Puerto Rico
Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19, Arizona
Cory James Connell, 21, Florida
Juan Pablo Rivera Velazquez, 37, Puerto Rico
Luis Daniel Conde, 39, Puerto Rico
Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24, Puerto Rico
Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32, Michigan
Frank Hernandez, 27, Texas
Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33, North Carolina
Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49, New York
Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28, Puerto Rico
Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25, Dominican Republic
Akyra Monet Murray, 18, Philadelphia, PA
Paul Terrell Henry, 41, Chicago
Antonio Davon Brown, 29, Oklahoma
Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24, Cuba
Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21, Cuban-American
Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33, Puerto Rico
Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25, North Carolina
Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24, Puerto Rico
Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32, Mexico
Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25, Mexico
Jerald Arthur Wright, 31, Ecuador
Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25, Puerto Rico
Jean C. Nieves Rodriguez, 27, Puerto Rico
In 2016, we published a special pull-out supplement to honor the lives of the Pulse Orlando victims. In these pages, you will find information about the victims’ names, their take on life, their likes, and dislikes, even eerily spoken premonitions of some. Most importantly, you will get to know them a little better, in their own words, as The Rainbow Times’ team researched their lives on social media, their messages to loved ones, their last phone calls, in an effort to help you get to know them better. Today, we continue to #HonorThemWithActions and #SayTheirNames. We hope you do the same.
—TRT Management
