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Pulse survivor to speak before Congress, address rise in anti-LGBTQI+ violence
“Unbridled hate has consequences — consequences we know too well.”
A survivor of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting will speak before a U.S. congressional committee this week to address a rise in anti-LGBTQI+ violence that he and other advocates say is fueled, in part, by policies advanced by Republican lawmakers.
Pulse survivor Brandon Wolf will speak before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Wednesday at 10 a.m., according to an announcement by committee spokesperson Emma Dulaney.
Wolf will speak alongside survivors of the Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs that killed five people and injured at least 17 others last month. Nationally recognized LGBTQI+ advocates also speaking at the committee hearing include Olivia Hunt, policy director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, and Kelley Robinson of the Human Rights Campaign.
Wolf spoke before congress members in 2019 to support stricter gun laws after a series of mass shootings in Texas and Ohio killed more than 30 people.
On Monday, Wolf tweeted: “On Wednesday, I am joining Club Q survivors to testify before the House Oversight Committee on the rise of anti-LBGTQ hate and violence in America. Unbridled hate has consequences — consequences we know too well.”
The announcement for the hearing singled out Florida’s House Bill 1557 as an example of anti-LGBTQI+ policies advanced by Republicans in recent years. The controversial measure derided as the “don’t say gay” bill prohibits the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools up to the third grade or “in a manner that is not age-appropriate” for students in higher grades.
In the press release, the Committee on Oversight and Reform said social media content alleging that members of the LGBTQI+ community were “groomers” skyrocketed by more than 400% last year after the passage of the bill.
At the hearing, the committee will hear testimony from individuals impacted by this violence. The hearing will be livestreamed on YouTube and the committee’s webpage.
“From Colorado Springs to my own district in New York City, communities across the country are facing a terrifying rise of anti-LGBTQI+ violence and extremism,” said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the chairwoman of the committee on oversight and reform, said in a statement.
According to the release, hate crimes against LGBTQI+ people in the United States have increased by 40% since 2015, with the last two years being the deadliest on record for transgender and gender non-conforming people.
The Human Rights Campaign says there were 25 anti-LGBTQI+ bills enacted across the country in 2021. More than 290 antiLGBTQI bills were introduced across 33 states last year. The campaign said of the 290 bills, 140 were considered to be anti-transgender bills.
This summer was the six-year remembrance of Orlando’s Pulse nightclub massacre. On June 12, 2016, a gunman walked into the
— Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the June 12, 2016, shootings at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, via Twitter
gay nightclub near downtown Orlando and shot 49 people to death and injured dozens of others in what was at the time the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Gov. Ron DeSantis proclaimed June 12 as Pulse Remembrance Day to annually recognize those impacted by the mass shooting. But he continues to face harsh criticism from the same community for actions such as vetoing state funds in 2021 that would have provided counseling for survivors.
“Let’s be clear about what this is: Governor DeSantis has declared war on Florida’s LGBTQ community,” Wolf said about the veto at the time.
DeSantis’ then-press secretary, Christina Pushaw, called the characterization of the governor’s vetoes “patently false” and noted that overall spending for community-based mental health services grew by $212 million statewide.