A year after the massacre in a gay nightclub in the United States, a father has never claimed his son’s remains. According to local media, he does not take responsibility for his sexual orientation.
49 dead, hundreds injured and a shocked LGBT community. One year after the automatic weapon attack in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando (Florida), one of the worst killings in the United States, all of the remains of the victims have been returned to their loved ones. Including that of the terrorist. But according to information from Orlando Latino and The Advocate published in recent days, one of the bodies, that of a young man from Puerto Rico, was never claimed by his father.
According to these American newspapers, the father discovered the sexual orientation of his son with the drama. Not accepting it, saying he was “ashamed”, he refused to go to the morgue to identify him and did not take any steps for the funeral. It was only very recently that the remains of the young man’s body were finally returned to other relatives in Orlando, who were able to bury him.
“What was my son doing with another man?”
This tragic family episode is revealing, according to the Orlando Latino, of the predominance of conservative thought in Puerto Rico, where a large number of residents are Hispanic Catholics. It is one of the last states in North America to legalize same-sex marriage. “The pain of a gay Puerto Rican is real. In this macho-culture state, homophobia is not subtle and reaches high levels,” the newspaper writes.
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The case of the Orlando victim rejected by his father would not be isolated. Asked by The Advocate, Patty Sheehan, Commissioner in Orlando, confirms having received several calls from parents in the grip of questions after the tragedy. “What was my son doing at that nightclub with another man?” Some asked. “In Latin America, homosexuality is not accepted”, laments Patty Sheehan. Many of the Orlando victims were indeed from the Puerto Rican community.
According to CNN, the mother of a young gay man killed in the shooting has also encountered problems burying her son religiously. The churches would have been reluctant.
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