"It's hard to believe it's been five years. It still feels like yesterday."
It has been five years since the country woke up to the news 49 people were gunned down in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida – an attack that ripped away the innocence of a community known for family vacations to Disney World and with it leaving the LGBTQ community on edge during a month of Pride celebrations.
It was the nation's deadliest mass shooting, a uniquely shocking and undesirable mantle that Orlando held for only one year before an attack left 60 dead at a country music festival in Las Vegas. In a country plagued by gun violence and an almost steady stream of mass shootings, the death toll in Orlando was shocking and thrust the city at the epicenter of conversations about gun control and terrorism.
Survivors of the attack and those who lost loved ones at Pulse nightclub in the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, are still grappling with the trauma of that night – an attack that targeted members of the LGBTQ community during a month dedicated to celebrating acceptance and gay Pride.
Read more at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune