Jul 19, 2016
The first of a ten part series looking at the aftermath of the Pulse shooting in Orlando, solely through the voices of members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Following the shooting, I began seeing members of the community openly worrying on social media, understandably for their lives, but also about the packaging of the attack both by major news outlets and elected officials. It seemed like coverage of the shooting was overwhelmingly formatted as cisgender, heterosexual people talking about members of the queer and Latinx community rather than talking to them. After frustrating hours of fruitlessly searching for perspective from the actual communities affected, I remembered that, in this modern world, I didn't have to wait for any other outlet to have these conversations for me; I could do it myself.
As I started thinking about the project, something else became painfully obvious to me: I couldn't wrap my head around the weight of 49 lives lost. I heard about a news anchor reading all 49 names on air, and was surprised to hear that this simple act took seven minutes. That number, 49, by itself, can feel small. 49 cents, 49 seconds. I wanted to understand the enormity, the massive loss of life, by talking to 49 people who identify within the LGBTQIA+ community, to understand that weight.
The interviews here are presented chronologically by recording date. I spoke with the following people for this episode, and they've all given permission to include their Twitter handles:
1. Logan Kenny @LoganKenny1
2. Sal Mattos @salmattos
3. David Hart @pccasestudy
4. Nick @PorterPizzazz
5. Ming @weimingkam
Given the fluidity of language surrounding sexual, gender, and ethnic identities, it can be hard to find current and comprehensive resources for inclusive language. Here are a few that I've found helpful, and I'm happy to add additional resources by recommendation:
GLAAD
Media Reference Guide
Human Rights Campaign Glossary of Terms
Teaching Tolerance: A Gender Spectrum
Glossary
Trans Student Educational Resources Definitions
Why We Say Latinx, via Latina magazine
This episode contains the following music:
"Awaken the Wolf" by Golden Grey, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
"Fairytale Waltz" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed
under CC BY 3.0
"Light Thought var 1" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed
under CC BY 3.0
"On the Streets" by Daniel James Dolby, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
4.0
"Skyward" by Golden Grey, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
These episodes don't happen without your support. Thank you! Pledge as little as $1 per episode at: http://patreon.com/nototally
For a no-cost way of supporting the show, do all of your Amazon shopping from nototally.com/amazon. This will take you to Amazon's front page, and every purchase you make will send a few pennies our way. Thank you!
Rating and reviewing us on iTunes is one of the most helpful things you could possibly do for us, and you can do it here: http://nototally.com/iTunes
Comment at our website: http://nototally.com
Like us on facebook: https://facebook.com/nototally
Yell at us on twitter: https://twitter.com/NoTotally