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Orlando Shooting: Homophobic Father Reportedly Refused To Claim Gay Son’s Body After Massacre

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 18:41 PST, Jun 24, 2016

The tragic Pulse nightclub terrorist attack in Orlando resulted in 49 victims who suffering horrific deaths, and at least one homophobic father of a victim refused to claim his body because his son was gay. Yep, even in 2016, a murdered gay man can suffer so much discrimination within his own family that his homophobic father will leave his remains unclaimed to save face.

According to a report by Orlando Latino, all of the 49 Orlando shooting victims’ bodies have finally been released to their next of kin. Even the body of the terrorist responsible for the carnage has been removed from the Orange County ME building.

“We effectively and efficiently completed the identification, notification and autopsy process within a 72-hour period – a monumental task.”

One unfortunate victim of the Orlando shooting, however, reportedly almost remained unclaimed. Why? Because the victim’s homophobic father was ashamed to claim the body of his deceased, murdered son simply because his son was gay. Ultimately, according to the report, it took a lot of convincing for local relatives of the murdered Orlando shooting victim’s body to be recovered by “Orlando-area relatives.” The body has since been buried, and there is no word regarding whether the homophobic father played any part in claiming his gay son’s body, or whether the father was present at the Orlando shooting victim’s burial.

Orlando officials say that getting the body to the next of kin was “touch and go,” because of the shooting victim’s sexual orientation.

Orlando Latino has opted not to identify the Orlando shooting victim referenced in their report, but they say that the young man was Puerto Rican. The island of Puerto Rico is notoriously socially conservative, and more often than not, anti-LGBT. Most, if not all of the victims of the Orlando shooting are believed to have been members of the LGBT community, and the aftermath of the tragedy has brought out the homophobic haters in droves.

Indeed, Puerto Rico is way behind the curve when it comes to LGBT rights. While it is a U.S. territory, and while the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in the United States in June of 2015, Puerto Rico didn’t allow legal gay marriage until April, 2016. The homophobic excuse for denying Puerto Rico residents the rights afforded to other U.S. citizens and residents? A San Juan court argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision “didn’t apply” to the citizens (and territory) of Puerto Rico.

“The district court’s ruling errs in so many respects that it is hard to know where to begin.”

It took months, but the homophobic attempt to keep legal gay marriage out of Puerto Rico was ultimately thwarted by the Boston First Circuit Court of Appeals.

Despite the appeals court’s ruling that Puerto Rico must allow same-sex marriage (along with the rest of the U.S. and its territories), the homophobic attitude prevails on the island. In the territory, fully 72 percent of Protestants polled opposed same-sex marriage. Overall, roughly 55 percent of the island’s residents are vehemently opposed to legal LGBT marriage.

The trend is similar to other Spanish-speaking nations.

It is also likely the basis of the homophobic Orlando shooting victim’s father’s refusal to claim his gay son’s body.

Like most nations, gay marriage support in Puerto Rico is higher among the young. Unfortunately for the Orlando shooting victim, his father is reportedly among the “35 or older” demographic; in that age group, support for LGBT rights drops all the way down to 26 percent.

In a nutshell, the homophobic bias in Puerto Rico is real, and it makes life (and apparently death) a real struggle for the LGBT community.

The homophobic bias on the island territory reaches into the highest levels of government, with even the senate president calling out a fellow senator as gay on a national radio interview.

Puerto Rico’s homophobic undertones are reportedly so harsh and permeating that even the most famous gay Puerto Rican, Ricky Martin, took years to come out of the closet.

Unfortunately for the Orlando shooting victim, unclaimed by his apparently homophobic father, he’s among the anonymous majority of the nation’s LGBT community.

[Image by Shutterstock]

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