By: Yehemy Zavala Orozco / Community Education Manager
After three years of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando Florida. We remember you. All of the beautiful souls that wanted to feel they belong in this world; all they wanted was to enjoy themselves dancing and having fun with their friends. Pulse was the place where they felt the most comfortable of all places. Most of the victims were LGBTQI+ people of color.
At Comunidades Unidas we believe that ALL types of families need to live healthy and together. What happened three years ago was a terrorist attack to our LGBTQI+ families of color. Unfortunately today, hatred and misjudgement continue to divide us so we must stand up and fight back. It is important to embrace the different intersectionalities we have to ensure we can be inclusive and understanding of our differences. We may have different perspectives, however as communities of color, we have to face many different forms of systemic barriers and discrimination because of the color of our skin, our ethnicity, our immigration status, our sexual orientation, gender, and abilities. Now, more than ever, we must come together as Utahns to ensure everyone's rights and dignity are respected and nobody is in danger because of who they are.
At Comunidades Unidas we want to ensure our immigrant and Latinx youth have a space where they feel a sense of belonging and welcoming to all their identities and intersectionalities. We want to ensure that their existence and importance is acknowledged and respected. At the end of the day, it is all about love and creating a space where youth can be heard and feel safe to be themselves without being questioned if they belong.
We want to remember our folks who were murdered 3 years ago with this flag. This flag was created by the Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs. It is a reminder that people of color still experience discrimination, racism, and exclusion on LGBTQI+ spaces. We want to send our love and thoughts to our folks who lost their lives 3 years ago. You are in our hearts and we have not forgotten that as a society we still need to open more spaces of love for all.