Gone but not forgotten

It has been one year since the atrocities at Pulse in Orlando. I remember, as do so many in our community, the horror of waking up that Sunday morning to the tragic news of such a senseless act of violence. I remember feeling a gnawing pain in the days following, a loss which had affected me so personally even though I had no direct connection to those whose lives were so violently ripped from them.

It was an act against a marginalized group of people in a place where they should have felt safe. In the one sanctuary many had in a world which wished them harm. And as we later learned, it is very probable that it was committed by a person harboring so much pain and anger and self-hatred because of the way in which our culture demeans, erases, and punishes those who identify as LGBTQ+.

Pulse was, and should be, a stark reminder of the vulnerability we still face as a community. A reminder that for transgender folk, we still live with the 1 in 12 (or 1 in 8) chance of dying from a hate crime this year and a 50% chance of being the victim of physical or sexual violence. That in spite of how far we have come, we still have so much work to do before things can truly get better.

Both my team and myself remain dedicated to doing that work: to honor those lost to us because they dared to live open an affirming lives and to work tirelessly to create safer, more inclusive communities. We remain forever here for you, no matter where you are in your transition, what needs you have, or what sorrows you face. We remain forever here for your loved ones as they transition with you to help them become your real-life transition partners. We remain forever here to educate our communities about gender identity and sexual orientation and to combat sexism, racism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia through strategic education and community-based partnerships.

In the aftermath of Pulse, the community banded together in love. Six days after Pulse, I was at Capital Pride in Bismarck. While we were all on-edge, we all took every opportunity to shower one another with love and support and to march with pride. Because that's what our community does. We show love and support where it is lacking, and pride because we are perfectly perfect and totally worth it.

On behalf of the entire team in solidarity and love,

Darcy J. Corbitt-Hall, BA
President and CEO