The School of Social Work, York University is greatly saddened over the loss and injury of queer and trans lives within and beyond Orlando’s LGBTQ communities. The events of Saturday June 12th, 2016 at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida have and will continue to impact many communities.
We stand in solidarity with Orlando’s LGBTQ communities, lost and injured community members, their lovers, friends, children, and families. We recognize that this tragedy transcends queer and trans communities, as it impacts various racialized communities to which LGBTQ lost and injured lives belong.
We reject responses to the horrific tragedy in Orlando that further enact violence, hate, moral denigration, and discrimination against LGBTQ lives.
We reject responses to the horrific tragedy in Orlando that promote Islamophobia, moral denigration, and discrimination against Muslim lives. The School of Social Work stands in solidarity with Muslim communities.
We reject all political structures, discourses, and practices by which people are sorted into valued and expendable groups, including those relating to sexuality, gender, race, and religion.
In this Pride month, as in past and future months, we stand for the rights of LGBTQ people to live and love openly, fiercely and with pride.