onePULSE Foundation

On June 12, 2016, a gunman entered Pulse nightclub at 1912 South Orange Avenue in Orlando and killed 49 people — most of them young Latino gay men celebrating Latinx Night — in the worst mass shooting targeting LGBTQ+ people in American history. The attack killed 49 people and injured 53 others; its impact on Orlando's LGBTQ+ community, on the national queer community, and on the broader American conversation about gun violence and LGBTQ+ safety was profound and permanent. The onePULSE Foundation was established in the aftermath to steward the memory of the 49 victims, support the survivors and first responders, and develop the permanent national memorial at the Pulse site. The Foundation has pursued an ambitious vision: a memorial museum and garden at 1912 South Orange Avenue that will serve as a national site of mourning, education, and remembrance comparable in scope to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The permanent national memorial, still in development, will include the preserved exterior of the Pulse building, a museum documenting the lives of the 49 victims and the impact of the attack, and landscaped memorial grounds. The site at 1912 South Orange Avenue is not a nightlife destination. It is a place of profound significance — the location where 49 people were killed, where hundreds of survivors experienced trauma that will mark them for the rest of their lives, and where the LGBTQ+ community's right to exist safely in public was attacked in the most direct possible way. Visitors who choose to come to this site should approach it with the full weight of what it represents. The onePULSE Foundation's work — preserving the memory of the 49, supporting the community, and building a memorial worthy of their lives — is among the most important LGBTQ+ advocacy work underway in the United States.