On Saturday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the gay club in Orlando, Florida, which was the target of a terrorist attack that killed 49 people in 2016, is now considered a "national memorial" to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the assault. The president stated, "In the coming days, I will sign a measure designating Pulse as a national memorial, enshrining in law what has been true since that horrific day five years ago: Pulse is a sacred place."
The attack on the club, carried out by a gunman on June 12, 2016, in the name of the Islamic State, injured more than fifty other individuals and was the worst mass shooting in the history of the country at that time. The shooter, Omar Mateen (29 years old), was killed during a police raid after a prolonged standoff. The attack deeply shocked the nation and the LGBTQ community at the height of their annual celebrations.
Biden, who visited the site with President Barack Obama just days after the attack, remarked, "In minutes, Pulse, which had long been a place of acceptance and joy, became a place of unimaginable suffering and grief." He called for addressing the "public health epidemic (of) gun violence in all its forms" through stricter gun purchase laws.
Biden emphasized the "specific impact" of this type of violence on LGBTQ and transgender communities in the country. He stated, "We must eradicate the hatred and injustice that contribute to violence and murder against transgender women, particularly women of color."
The Senate unanimously approved legislation designating the club as a "national memorial" on Wednesday in a rare moment of political consensus, after the measure was passed by the House of Representatives in 2020. However, classifying the club as a "national memorial" does not place it on the national park registry, such as the Washington and Lincoln memorials in the federal capital, nor does it allow for federal budget funding, according to the measure.
Pride parades are scheduled across the United States on Saturday and Sunday. In Washington, Vice President Kamala Harris made an unexpected appearance with her husband, Doug Emhoff, and stated, "We still have much more to do," referencing the progress already made, such as the U.S. Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015.
