Dear GSS Community:
The horrific attack this past weekend against LGBT patrons of an Orlando dance club leaves all of us mourning for the victims, the injured and their families. The fact that one of the victims, Enrique Rios, was a social worker, who lived in Brooklyn, makes this tragedy all the more real for our GSS community. As professional social workers our inclination is to work to understand such unfathomable acts and to try and help others make sense of why it happened and how it could have been prevented. In this instance, however, it seems impossible to comprehend anything other than sadness and pain. Forty-nine people, most of them young and Latino/a in the prime of their lives, were senselessly and violently taken from us because of hate and intolerance. Intolerance in all its forms must be unacceptable.
I hope you will find comfort in the love of family, friends and colleagues at this very difficult time, and that you will continue to fight for social justice in all our communities.
Debra M. McPhee
(Photo Credit: Carlo Allegri, Reuters)
