Families of Pulse victims say Orlando is everything the shooter hated: Tolerant and cosmopolitan

Reporting from Orlando, Fla. —  Gay and Puerto Rican, Giovanni Nieves enjoys performing as a drag queen and having the love of his family. And in Orlando, a city that defies the stereotype of an intolerant South, he fits right in.

He was exactly the kind of person Omar Mateen was targeting when he unloaded two guns in a crowded gay nightclub around 2 a.m. Sunday.

Nieves was headed to the Pulse to see two of his friends perform but got waylaid and didn’t arrive. His friends are among the dead.

Many Latino families are socially conservative and Roman Catholic or evangelical; that is to say, religious, with traditional values that do not include acceptance for homosexuals. However, family after family in Orlando said the sexuality of their son, daughter or sibling was unimportant.

A few said their relatives were not gay. That may or may not be true. Regardless, locals say the influx of people to Orlando over the years has made the city tolerant and surprisingly cosmopolitan.

“That’s what makes me so sad now, thinking of how comfortable Orlando had become,” said Todd Dixon, a counselor at the Zebra Coalition, a local agency that works with gay and lesbian youth.

The acceptance, however, stands out against a less accommodating backdrop. Much of talk radio in central Florida, in English and Spanish, is conservative and religious. Dixon points to national statistics that show that 42% of homeless people are members of the LGBT community, primarily youth rejected by their families.

“There is a tradition in Latino Catholicism, where homosexuality is frowned upon,” said Dr. Philip Toal, also of the Zebra Coalition. “But then it’s your cousin ... your son.”

So family, ultimately, trumps cultural and religious prohibitions.

Nieves said his family — “all my straight nephews” — joined him at Pulse to celebrate his birthday in April and on many other occasions.

“It’s all very open,” he said. “Once in a while there’s someone who makes an ignorant comment. But overall, there’s lots of love.”

Nereida Perez said her cousin was straight and had gone to Pulse because she enjoyed Latin Night. The young woman, Llka Arroyo, was shot at least eight times and was undergoing surgery.

“Everyone says they were gay,” Perez, 66, said. “She wasn’t, but it doesn’t matter. It’s all family.”

“This is a city of tourism and fun,” she added. “That’s what hits really hard. It really hurts.”

Retired musician Angel Luis Ruiz, 83, was paying tribute with Perez to the victims at a sprawling memorial on the lawn of the Orlando performing arts center.

“There are isolated people with other ideas,” Ruiz said of intolerance. But they have become the exception, not the rule, he said.

In the lobby of the Orlando Regional Medical Center, Carlos Bonano was waiting to see a gay friend, Ilka Reyes, who was shot multiple times at the Pulse. Three other close friends were killed.

“It’s more ignorance than intolerance, when people look at you sideways,” said Bonano, who works as a translator at the Orlando airport. “But Latino families are very close. I think if someone didn’t support their gay family member, they are feeling now very regretful.”