PFLAG Group Creates Memorial Quilt For Pulse Victims
In an act of solidarity and remembrance ahead of Orlando Pride, a California-based chapter of PFLAG constructed a Pulse memorial quilt for the city's LGBT community.
PFLAG Napa delivered the Orlando Pulse Memorial Quilt to PFLAG Orlando this October. It contains 49 squares, each of which memorializes one of the lives lost in the June 12 mass shooting.
“[Our members] wanted to do something, and they felt that this was a way they could remember the victims, and we could show our solidarity for a terrible tragedy that happened,” explained Rosemarie Vertullo, the president of PFLAG Napa. "Most of our members have children who are LGBTQ and it could have been one of our kids."
When PFLAG Orlando president Judy Wood received the quilt, she remembers being moved to tears by the random act of kindness.
“There was a whole lot of love," she remarked. "And I get goosebumps just thinking about it."
Orlando held its annual Come Out with Pride festival this past Saturday, exactly five months after the horrific attack at Pulse.
Survivors and family members joined first responders, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, police chief John Mina and other dignitaries as the grand marshals of the Parade.
“The pain is easing, but I think we really haven’t had a whole community coming together,” said Come Out with Pride’s Jeff Prystajko. “Hopefully we want people at the end of the day to go home with some bit of joy, that they were glad they came.”
If the photos from the day are any indication, it seems like the 150,000 attendees left not only feeling joy, but also love, unity and strength.
h/t: USA Today