Reflecting on the Fourth Anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub Shooting

Four years ago, as members of the LGBTQ+ community were gathered together for “Latin Night” at Pulse nightclub during Pride Month, a terrorist armed with a semi-automatic rifle opened fire. He killed 49 innocent people and injured many more — at the time, the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman. And still today, it remains the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ+ community in American history.

Sadly, all these years later, terrorism, mass shootings, and hate crimes continue to rip apart our American communities. Our places of worship have been attacked, Hispanics have been targeted in places like El Paso, the death toll from mass shootings continues to mount, and LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender women of color, are disproportionately targeted by violence.

The inaction of Republican lawmakers to address the scourge of gun violence in America is unacceptable, and Jill and I stand with the survivors of mass shootings and all the family members of victims to support the #HonorThemWithAction campaign.

We have much more work to do to create a world free of terrorism, hate, bigotry, and violence — and that work has to start by making sure every person has a plan to vote in November. As President, I will continue standing with you to build a more equal, more inclusive United States, where every member of the LGBTQ+ community is safe and respected.