does any of hp Peeps live there? Know someone? are you guys ok? are your frineds ok?

I dont know anyone there/or live there, but all this has got to stop D= two shootings back to back in orlando. makes me sad. :/

Roux lives there but was out of town this weekend for Bonnaroo so she is safe. She has said that all of her friends are safe but that she's got some friends who still aren't sure about their friends. But both shootings that happened this weekend were both places she's been and had friends that liked to frequent there. :(

Very scary. And i really don't think Obama is handling this correctly. The guy was an extremist, has a history of interest in ISIS and pledged to them hours before. ISIS should be held responsible,  and America is showing them how week we are by not doing anything. I live in Florida, so it's a hit pretty close to home. I can't get it out of my mind. 

I'm just upset it even happened. It's 2016, something needs to change. We should not have this many shootings. Or any really.

Roux let me know all her friends are confirmed safe. One friend of a friend did not make it, another friend of a friend is unaccounted for. If you're the praying type, prayers please. If you're not, good thoughts. To even have one of my best-friend's have a friend that has a friend dead hits home for me so much.

No matter how anyone feels, these are stil people that are very much loved by their friends and family.

It's so sad what the world has come to. .__.

Roux here, checking in.
As Siib said, I live in Orlando, only about a 10 minute drive from both The Plaza, the concert venue where the first shooting was, and Pulse, the club where the massacre happened. I've been to both venues dozens of times. My boyfriend and I have seen many concerts at The Plaza and have always considered it a safe and inviting environment. We love that the venue is intimate and that artists almost always hang around in the lobby after shows to meet with fans. We've also been to Pulse many times, as I have a number of LGBT friends and one of my best friends since high school performs in drag at a number of the clubs downtown. I've even danced on the stage at Pulse as a "backup dancer" for another friend's first time performing at the club. So this all hits very close to home for me. As Siib said, Mike and I were in Tennessee at Bonnaroo while this happened. I woke up and the whole campsite was talking about a mass shooting at Pulse in Orlando and my heart stopped. I panicked, turned my phone on, and immediately sought out the friends who I feared might have been there at the time of the shooting. As of right now, my close friends who frequent the club are all safe and accounted for. However, the death toll for my friends' friends/family is now up to 5. Although I have not directly lost one of my friends or family members, my heart breaks for my friends who have.

To give you an idea of the gravity of our situation here in Orlando as well as the outpouring of love and support to everyone in their time of need, I'd like to share what my Facebook newsfeed looks like right now.

Life is precious, guys. ♥
Roux

I'm so thankful that you guys are both safe, so heart broken for you and your friends who suffered losses!

This is the first time that anyone I know has been directly impacted by a mass shooting like this. It's always heartbreaking but this is jsut a whole new level.  ♥

My heart breaks for Orlando, I'm a Florida native living in CT.. and I still feel like this hit close to home.  I'm originally from Port Saint Lucie, and to see the shooter is from there, scares me.  I've been trying to stay away from Facebook today, everytime I see posts I just want to cry :(

I have friends who live in Florida and family who live in Orlando...this is happening way to much & it breaks my heart to hear and see :( my prayers are with those in Florida who have lost friends and family & with the whole community as a whole...it all needs to stop..

Oh god roux I'm so sorry. I had no idea you were so close to all of this. 

As someone who's still pretty recently out, there's really no words to describe how important something as "simple" as a LGBT bar is to the community. It's supposed to be the one place where you can really have fun and not worry about feeling different, because EVERYONE is different. And you're there celebrating everyone's differences. It really is supposed to be a "safe space." I won't be frightened into hiding. I spent the majority of my life doing that. But it's still a tragedy, and it's still going to hang in the air in the back of everyone's mind. 

I'd appreciate politics staying out of this thread. We don't need any bickering. This is all tragic enough.

Link Tree

Well said Chao. I think right now is just a time for us to send our love/prayers/positive thoughts to all those affected by this tragedy.

Glad to hear you and your boyfriend are ok Roux. 

Roux, I am glad you're safe. I'm sorry for the losses that have hit close to home though. 

It's scary what this world is becoming...I'm afraid it will get worse before it gets better. So very saddening. I saw an article about a first hand account of first responders inside the club where many of the victims still laid. It was like a chorus of their phones ringing, as their friends and family calling frantically looking for them. The thought of that is absolutely heartbreaking. How can one have so much hate? How? I don't understand it. I don't ever want to. I just want the violence and murder of innocents to stop.

♥ Chao don't let ANYTHING scare you into not being EXACTLY who you are because you're an amazing, wonderful person with a great heart & you're perfect.

This is such a huge tragedy and I've just been on the verge of tears all day. It's just so heartbreaking and disheartening. I want the world to do better and be better than this. We are evolved enough that it stuns me to realize that anyone thinks that voilence can solve anything these days. 

I live in the Cocoa Beach area but I have a ton of friends and family that live in Orlando and my sister just moved from Orlando.  I know a few people that frequent that club and my sister has been there a few times to think that they could have been there that night is a scary thought.  Everyone I know is safe but a guy I know that goes there regularly knows several of the people who were killed or injured.  

I didn't even know this happened until I got back from work and saw facebook notifications saying that my friends/family were checking in as safe and seeing the word shooting mixed in with that...it really hits home.  We've seen Boston Strong, Pray for Paris, and Pray for Brussels but I never really imagined seeing Pray for Orlando all over my news feed.  My facebook feed is very similar to what Roux showed; Orlando has united in light of this tragedy and I can only imagine what the candlelight vigil is going to look like.