In an emotional evening, a panel on “Stonewall to Pulse” discussed some of the most violent moments in LGBTQ history.
Speakers told 10News before the event that they wanted to point out not only how far LGBTQ rights have come but also how they have to go.
Brandon Wolf is a survivor of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.
"The gunshots started again and we made a decision in the bathroom that we would make a run for it, and we were lucky. Unfortunately, my best friends were not that lucky," Wolf said.
He is hoping by speaking out, he can help prevent future hate crimes and violence.
He told 10News the shooting turned him into an activist.
"This is a conversation about how do you bring progress from pain," Wolf said. "How do we uproot hatred and bigotry where it starts? With our young people, in schools."
Another panelist, Jason Marsden, has dedicated his life to preventing hate crimes as well, after a different tragedy.
He was a young newspaper reporter in Wyoming when his friend, Matt Shepard, became an internationally known name after he was murdered. Two men were convicted for killing him.
"One of the two men starting beating Matt with a pistol butt," Marsden recalled. "They tied him to a fence in the middle of the night ... and he was there 18 hours until someone found him."
Now, decades later, he's here at this panel discussion because he still thinks there is work to be done.
"I think by doing human rights work, I think that’s how we would have wished to be honored. And what we lost when he was killed was a person who cared about things like that."
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