OMAR MATEEN. Upon reading the name my heart sank. In America, racism constantly crawls up the backs of our brown and black brothers. I was scared for the gay men in my life with names like Hussein and Mahmoud, whose lives just became even more dangerous, whose existence and place within the gay male community just became more tenuous.
Left to right: Luis, Austin, Edgar, David, Eric, Chris and Arad. Photography David Quintanilla
Anthony Luis Laureano Disla. Eric Ivan Ortiz Rivera. Juan Ramon Guerrero. Luis Vielma. The Spanish surnames of the murdered kept coming and my heart sank further. I want to say that I’m surprised that this happened. I want to say that I’m shocked that the men who died were Latino and Black. But I’m not. Killing Black and Latino men, whether through gun fire, enforced poverty, cultural erasure, or the steady diet of self-hatred that we feed them is as American as apple pie.