Pulse Nightclub Survivor & Activist Brandon Wolf | Surviving a Mass Shooting
Manage episode 378326687 series 2798026
Brandon Wolf is a nationally recognized gun safety and LGBTQ civil rights advocate and dynamic public speaker. He serves as the Press Secretary for Equality Florida, the state’s LGBTQ civil rights organization.
On June 12, life changed for Brandon. He crouched in a bathroom while a gunman opened fire at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub, killing his best friends, Drew Leinonen & Juan Guerrero, and 47 others. Rather than be swallowed by the anger and fear of tragedy, Brandon set out to honor the victims’ legacies with action.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Brandon co-founded The Dru Project, a nonprofit organization that works to empower youth and provide funding for higher education for future leaders in the LGBTQ community. The organization has given over $100,000 in college scholarships to rising leaders. He also became an outspoken activist in the gun violence prevention movement, partnering with March For Our Lives, Everytown, Giffords, and others to demand legislative solutions to the epidemic. In 2019, he became the first survivor of the tragedy at Pulse Nightclub to testify before Congress.
A powerful public speaker, Brandon Wolf is a frequent guest on MSNBC (The Reid Out & American Voices), CNN, and in print publications (CNN.com, USA Today, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, Washington Post, The Advocate, Out Magazine) weaving his story into calls to action. HuffPost has recognized him as one of “30 modern-day LGBTQ pioneers” and Business Equality Magazine as one of 40 LGBTQ Leaders Under 40.
In all things, Brandon is driven by the reminder that we are obligated to honor those we’ve lost, not with empty words or hollow platitudes - but with action.
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