ORLANDO, Fla. – For five years, Joél Junior Morales has served on the front lines of the Pulse nightclub massacre’s aftermath, aiding grieving families and traumatized survivors. He has hugged them as they sobbed, helped arrange financial assistance when they couldn’t work, and linked them to mental-health providers to cope with the emotional wounds of having been hunted, shot and left for dead.
And when he learned last week that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had vetoed funding for counseling to those survivors, he cried.
“It may seem like five years is a long ways away from the tragedy,” said Morales, now director of operations for The Center Orlando, the region’s LGBTQ+ community center, “but we still have people suffering. We still have people coming forward for the first time [to get help]. And it just felt like a slap in the face to them when we made a promise not to forget them.”
