A little over a year the worst mass shooting in modern America occurred at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. What was supposed to be a safe place for the LGBT community was turned into a place of fear and panic. Sadly 49 people were killed and many more injured.
But now the Pulse Owner Barbara Poma seeks to reopen the club. The club is planned to reopen at a new location with the old location being converted into a memorial or possibly a museum. In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Poma said she has been looking in central or urban Orlando after initially discussing re-opening on the site of the massacre. The idea of reopening at the site of the massacre however was quickly abandoned.
The idea to convert the original location of the club to a memorial came after that launch of the onePulse foundation. Poma started the organization to help the victims of the tragedy and to help build the museum or memorial.
“This project is not about replacing a building or a fun hangout for the gay community,” said Jason Felts, CEO of Virgin Produced and board member of onePulse Foundation, at a May announcement regarding the memorial. “This project is about healing Central Florida, the GLBT community, the Latino community.”
Former club attendees have stated that they would not go to another club at the same location of the massacre. Reasons of not reopening at the old location included feelings of panic and dread returning to them. The community has been very supportive of reopening the club in honor of upholding the motto of “not letting hate win”.
A town hall meeting will be held September 13 to discuss plans of opening up a memorial. The onePulse foundation will also post an online public survey about input for the future Pulse location at www.onePULSEfoundation.org