WE STAND FOR SOCIETY AND SAFE HAVEN:
Regarding Events of 12 June 2016, Latin Night at LGBTQ Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL
PREGONES THEATER and PUERTO RICAN TRAVELING THEATER stand with all persons who refuse to allow fear to deter the vibrancy of our cultures and silence the voices of our brethren. We celebrate, support, and defend the lives of our extended LGBTQ families in its rich plurality. Our hearts are heavy with sorrow now, but our love is unflinching.
The labor that holds up our love is equally unflinching, and it will remain so for as long as callousness, hatred, and opportunism threaten to debase us. We have and will continue to stand for their opposite, SOCIETY AND SAFE HAVEN:
• Where every person can exalt in the arts, question meaning, and build common purpose.
• Where history and heritage, memory and knowledge, are dialogue and interaction.
• Where imagination and creativity deepen our care for each other.
As artists/citizens, we have walked this road for nearly fifty years and will stay another fifty, if need be. We are fueled by a vision of justice and inclusion crafted in collaboration with LGBTQ colleagues past and present. We take pride in producing and presenting stories of queer lives and queer dreams.
We stand for society and safe haven until your expression of love, sex, desire, and gender does not unleash bullets, or a stoning. We stand for society and safe haven until you no longer require defense and shelter just for being you.
In Loving Memory:
Stanley Almodóvar III, 23 years old
Amanda Alvear, 25 years old
Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old
Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old
Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old
Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old
Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old
Juan Chevez-Martínez, 25 years old
Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old
Cory James Connell, 21 years old
Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old
Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old
Simon Adrián Carrillo Fernández, 31 years old
Leroy Valentín Fernández, 25 years old
Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old
Peter O. González-Cruz, 22 years old
Juan Ramón Guerrero, 22 years old
Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old
Frank Hernández, 27 years old
Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old
Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old
Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old
Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old
Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old
Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old
Alejandro Barrios Martínez, 21 years old
Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old
Gilberto Ramón Silva Menéndez, 25 years old
Kimberly Morris, 37 years old
Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old
Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old
Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jiménez, 25 years old
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old
Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old
Jean Carlos Méndez Pérez, 35 years old
Enrique L. Ríos, Jr., 25 years old
Jean C. Nives Rodríguez, 27 years old
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old
Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old
Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, 24 years old
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old
Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old
Martin Benítez Torres, 33 years old
Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old
Juan P. Rivera Velázquez, 37 years old
Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old
Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velázquez, 50 years old
Luis Daniel Wilson-León, 37 years old
Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old
#StandWithOrlando #WeAreOrlando #WeArePulseLGBTQ #WeArePulseLatinx