Family Equality Council Starts Three-Day Recording Session in Partnership with StoryCorps and WMFE.
On June 12, 2016, 49 people were killed and 53 were wounded in the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL. The impact of this tragic event reached far beyond the individuals and families whose loved ones lost their lives or sustained injuries that night; the shooting struck the hearts of LGBTQ community members and allies across the country.
Today Family Equality Council is proud to be partnering once again with our friends at StoryCorps and local NPR affiliate WMFE to conduct a three-day recording session with survivors of the Pulse shooting, friends and family who lost loved ones, and community organizations who have played key roles in helping the LGBTQ community come together in the months that followed.
By listening to stories about these resilient individuals and communities, we will offer an opportunity for reflection, honor survivors and those that lost their lives, promote understanding and growth, and amplify LGBTQ and Latinx voices. Recordings collected by StoryCorps are archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, ensuring that the stories of those most intimately involved in the Pulse tragedy will be preserved as part of our national history.
Family Equality Council, StoryCorps, and WMFE are partnering with The Center in Orlando to host survivors, crisis counselors, first responders, staff of local community organizations, family members of victims, and the artist behind the “angel wings” counter-protest at victims’ funerals.
“We are grateful to StoryCorps and WMFE for this opportunity to gather and share survivors’ stories from the Pulse Nightclub shooting,” says Family Equality Council CEO Stan J. Sloan. “We know that the tragedy at Pulse hurt LGBTQ individuals and families across the country, and we believe that sharing these stories – however painful – is a crucial part of the healing process.”
The recording sessions are taking place March 9-11, and WMFE is hosting a “Taking Your Pulse” Town Hall meeting tonight which is open to the public (details and RSVP here).
Family Equality Council looks forward to sharing these moving stories with you in the coming months as the Pulse Commemoration Project progresses.
Thank you to our major partners: StoryCorps and WMFE, and to the following community partners, without whom this project would not be possible: