Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered flags to fly at half staff to honor Pulse victims. But unlike in previous years, he made no mention of the Hispanic and LGBTQ+ communities in his declaration.
The Florida governor issued an order, as he has done every year since his election, on the ninth anniversary of the Pulse shooting.
On June 12, 2016, 49 people were killed and 53 were injured after a shooter claiming allegiance to ISIS entered the Orlando gay club. Most of the victims were Latino and LGBTQ+.
Notably, in 2019, DeSantis’s first year as governor, he visited the Pulse memorial, but he caught blowback when his order that year initially made no mention of the queer identity or ethnicity of the victims.
But DeSantis updated his resolution to say the shooting “targeted the LGBTQ and Hispanic community,” as noted by the Florida Phoenix at the time. Every year since, he has used similar language.
But after spending the last few years on a crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion in state government, DeSantis this year omitted that language from his order once more.
“Nine years ago, on June 12, 2016, a shooter claiming alliance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant committed a horrific act of terrorism at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida,” the order reads.
“Forty-nine people were killed and fifty-three were wounded. As a mark of respect for the victims, their families, and the many affected by this tragedy, I hereby direct the flags of the United States and the State of Florida to be flown at half-staff at all local and state buildings, installations, and grounds throughout the State of Florida from sunrise to sunset on Thursday, June 12, 2025.”
Florida Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a gay Latino official whose district includes the Pulse site, criticized the decision.
““The governor’s lack of consistency here shows he cares more about scoring political points in the moment than authentic solidarity with his own constituents,” he told the Orlando Sentinel. But he also said he wanted to focus this week on remembering victims rather than on the governor’s known “bigotry and exclusion.”
Of note, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican who was Florida’s governor at the time of the shooting, issued a statement remembering victims that did mention the toll on the LGBTQ+ and Latino communities.
““It’s been nine years since the tragic attack at Pulse Nightclub, where 49 innocent lives were taken in an act of terror targeting Orlando’s LGBTQ and Hispanic communities,” Scott said. “I still remember the days and weeks that followed, sitting with grieving families and loved ones, feeling the heartbreak and loss that will never fully heal. That horrible night was meant to spread fear and hatred, but instead, it united Floridians. We came together to bring light through the darkness of that night, to support one another, and to honor those taken from us too soon. Every year, we pause to commemorate the lives lost on June 12, 2016, and remind ourselves to always stand against evil and hate that seeks to divide us.”