Remembering Pulse with DiCción Queer at Trade
A live performance Monday, June 12, will reflect on last year's massacre and gun-related tragedies
When he first learned of the Pulse nightclub massacre, Jonas Minino felt sick.
“In a way, the attack was done against our own Latinx community,” he says, referring to a large segment of the gunman’s primary victims. “So we have been trying to find a way not only to commemorate the victims, but find a safe space and heal from what has happened to our community.”
To that end, Minino and others from DiCción Queer, a local Latino LGBTQ nonprofit, have partnered with the D.C. chapter of Gays Against Guns and the Pride Fund to End Gun Violence to hold a live performance reflecting on the massacre, the threats posed to the LGBTQ community, and the need for gun reform measures.
The event at Trade will last about 30 minutes and will feature performers from DiCción Queer and Teatro la Bolsa, a Latino performance troupe. They will read selections from LGBTQ poets, dance, sing, and speak aloud the names of the 49 victims. Afterward, DiCción Queer will moderate a talkback with the audience, who will be invited to share their feelings.
Attendees can then take part in a candlelight procession to Dupont Circle, where the Pride Fund is holding a separate vigil to call for an overhauling of the nation’s gun laws, specifically related to background checks and automatic weapons.
“It’s a performance for healing,” Minino says. “It’s a performance to remember the victims, but it’s also a performance of reconstructing and trying to move forward from what already happened. It’s more, ‘What do we do from here?'” —John Riley
DC Love: A Tribute is from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Trade, 1410 14th St. NW. Admission is free, but attendees are encouraged to donate to the onePULSE Foundation. Visit facebook.com/DiccionQueer.
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