Pulse Nightclub Massacre Memorial and Pride Crosswalk
Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists honors the memory of the forty-nine lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning people senselessly murdered in an act of hate while gathered joyously in loving community at the prominent Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on the evening of June 12, 2016. The attack resulted in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at the time.
We also hold in our hearts the fifty-eight other individuals who suffered physical injury that night as well as the entire LGBTQ+ community in Orlando affected by this act of hate.
The attacks occurred during Pulse Nightclub’s “Latin Night,” with the majority of victims being of Latin American descent, and we recognize the ongoing intersectional injustices borne by members of that community as a whole and other communities of color, including their LGBTQ+ kin.
On June 12, 2026, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub Massacre, the WUU Social Justice Rainbow Ministry will hold a public evening vigil honoring those who lost their lives that terrible night. In addition to the placement of a memorial plaque, WUU also will dedicate its newly painted Pride Crosswalk, prominently located at the entrance to the WUU campus along Ironbound Road. The crosswalk features colors of the inclusive Progress Pride Flag that has become a symbol of the strength, power, and diversity of the LGBTQ+ community. The first rainbow crosswalk in Williamsburg, it is also a response to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s unjust executive order in August 2025 to remove “pavement art” from municipal and state roads—the carrying out of which order explicitly targeted symbols of LGBTQ+ pride, including the Orlando community’s memorial to the Pulse victims, which the Florida Department of Transportation painted over in the dead of night.
These colors include the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet of the original Pride Flag created in the late 1970s by San Francisco artist and activist Gilbert Baker, along with the more recent additions of pink and light blue representing transgender people, white for non-binary individuals, and brown and black for communities of color. These eleven colors now comprise the Pride Progress Flag created in 2018 by American non-binary artist and graphic designer Daniel Quasar to demonstrate the LGBTQ+movement’s inclusivity and ongoing work to protect the most marginalized members of our community.
The Pulse Nightclub Massacre Memorial Plaque and Pride Crosswalk are visibly symbolic affirmations of WUU’s ongoing commitment to providing a welcoming, safe community for LGBTQ+ individuals seeking a spiritual home, and of WUU’s ongoing social justice work to affirm and protect the rights, worth, and dignity of LGBTQ+ people here in Williamsburg and beyond.
Stanley Almodóvar III, age 23
Amanda L. Alvear, 25
Oscar A. Aracena-Montero, 26
Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, 33
Antonio Davon Brown, 29
Darryl Roman Burt II, 29
Luis Daniel Conde, 39
Cory James Connell, 21
Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25
Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25
Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32
Simón Adrian Carrillo Fernández, 31
Leroy Valentín Fernández, 25
Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26
Peter Ommy González-Cruz, 22
Juan Ramón Guerrero, 22
Paul Terrell Henry, 41
Frank Hernández, 27
Miguel Ángel Honorato, 30
Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40
Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19
Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30
Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32
Alejandro Barrios Martínez, 21
Juan Chavez Martinez, 25
Brenda Lee Márquez McCool, 49
Gilberto Ramón Silva Menéndez, 25
Kimberly Jean Morris, 37
Akyra Monet Murray, 18
Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20
Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36
Ángel Luis Candelario Padró, 28
Joel Rayón Paniagua, 32
Jean Carlos Méndez Pérez, 35
Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25
Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez, 27
Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano-Rosado, 35
Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, 24
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34
Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33
Martin Benítez Torres, 33
Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24
Franky Jimmy De Jesús Velázquez, 50
Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez, 37
Luis Sergio Vielma, 22
Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37
Jerald Arthur Wright, 31
Pulse Nightclub Massacre Victims
WUU has pledged to continue to learn about and advocate for life issues for bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender persons. We commit to do our part in healing centuries of religious and societal oppression and prejudice, and to make our congregation a sanctuary of spiritual growth and welcome for all.
All are worthy. All are welcome.
For more information, visit wuu.org/rainbow-ministry.