Father Refused to Claim Pulse Nightclub Shooting Victim [View all]
All the Pulse nightclub shooting victims bodies have been released to next of kin. Even the shooters body has left the Orange County Medical Examiners building off Michigan Avenue, according to information released this week.
We effectively and efficiently completed the identification, notification and autopsy process within a 72-hour period a monumental task, according to an earlier statement by OCME, which worked with the Florida Emergency Mortuary Operations Response System to complete the gruesome task.
But it was touch and go for one particular shooting victim whose father didnt want to claim the body. Because the son was gay. Because the father was ashamed. Finally and after much convincing, the body was released to Orlando-area relatives.
This young man shall remain anonymous so as not to further victimize the deceased, who was Puerto Rican. But Orlando Latino confirmed the information with several sources. The tale is part of the untold stories of the Latino victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre.
Social Conservative
The fact is, Puerto Ricans on the island are socially conservative and oftentimes anti-LGBT. While the U.S. Supreme Court declared that same-sex marriage was constitutional in June 2015, gay marriage didnt reach Puerto Rico until April 2016 10 months after the highest courts ruling because a San Juan district court said the Supreme Courts decision didnt apply to Puerto Rico.
The district courts ruling errs in so many respects that it is hard to know where to begin, wrote the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston in slapping down Puerto Ricos claim.
http://orlandolatino.org/2016/06/father-refused-claim-pulse-nightclub-shooting-victim/