Friday, June 12, 2026 marks ten years since the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. On that morning in 2016, 49 people lost their lives and 53 were wounded. The Orlando community gathers every June 12 to remember the lives taken, to hold the survivors and families, and to affirm that the work of honoring and protecting the LGBTQ+ community continues. This post is a guide to attending the 2026 Pulse Remembrance Ceremony, supporting the families and organizations doing this work, and showing up in a way that puts the community first.
What happened on June 12, 2016
In the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, a gunman entered Pulse nightclub during Latin Night and opened fire. By the time the attack ended, 49 people had been killed and 53 others wounded — the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ+ community in United States history at the time. Most of the 49 were Latino. Most were queer or queer-adjacent. The youngest victim was 18 years old. They were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and partners. They were out on a Saturday night, in a space that was supposed to be theirs. The details of who they were — their names, their faces, the communities they belonged to — are documented and honored by the families and the survivor community, who have spent ten years making sure they are not reduced to a statistic.
Why the 10-year mark matters
A decade is a long time, and it is also no time at all. The 10-year mark means that an entire generation of queer people in Orlando has come of age in the shadow of June 12, 2016 — young people who were children when it happened, who grew up knowing the address 1912 S Orange Ave and what it means to their community. It also means the survivors have now carried the weight of that morning for ten years: the grief, the physical recovery, the ongoing trauma, the advocacy. That is not a small thing.
The remembrance itself has changed over time. In the immediate years after 2016, the gatherings were raw with grief. Gradually, the community and the families of the 49 built something more durable: a permanent memorial process, educational programs, scholarships in the names of the victims, and sustained advocacy work. The 10-year mark asks the community to honor without forgetting and to keep building — to recognize that grief does not have an expiration date, and that the work of protecting LGBTQ+ lives, particularly Latino LGBTQ+ lives, is ongoing.
The 2026 Pulse Remembrance Ceremony
The official 2026 Pulse Remembrance Ceremony is led by the City of Orlando in partnership with the families of the 49 and the survivors. The program is shaped by the families and the survivors — they set the tone, the order of events, and who speaks. That is as it should be.
As of 2026-04-28, official program details — including the schedule, accessibility information, parking, and ways to participate — are published through the City of Orlando’s official channels. Check the city’s events calendar at https://www.orlando.gov/Events for the most current information as June 12 approaches.
This post will not speculate about speakers or program specifics. The ceremony belongs to the community that lost the most, and the right place to find those details is the official source.
How to attend respectfully
Attending the Pulse Remembrance Ceremony means showing up as a witness. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Arrive early. The ceremony is solemn. Arriving late disrupts the space for families and survivors who are there to grieve and remember. Give yourself time to find parking, orient yourself, and settle in before the program begins.
Dress comfortably and bring water. June in Orlando is hot. Some people wear white, which has become an informal tradition at Pulse remembrances. Some wear rainbow ribbons or shirts honoring a specific victim. There is no dress requirement — wear what feels respectful for an outdoor ceremony in the heat.
Listen. The program is led by families, survivors, and community leaders. Your role is to be present and attentive.
Phones down during the ceremony. If you want to photograph the memorial site, do so from a respectful distance without disrupting those around you.
Children are welcome. The ceremony is family-appropriate. Many families bring children. It is also an opportunity to have honest, age-appropriate conversations about what happened and why the community still gathers to remember.
If you did not lose someone, your role is to bear witness. Center the families, the survivors, and the Latino LGBTQ+ community that bore the greatest loss. This is not a space for self-promotion, social-media performance, or centering your own feelings above theirs.
The Pulse memorial site
This year, the existing Pulse nightclub structure at 1912 S Orange Ave was taken down. For nearly a decade after the shooting, the original building stood as an interim memorial — a place where the community came to leave flowers, photos, handwritten notes, candles, and mementos. The decision to take the structure down was a difficult one, made in consultation with the families, survivors, and the broader community, and it marks a turning point in how Orlando holds this site: from preserving what was, to building what comes next.
The new permanent memorial is now in active development at the same site, led by the City of Orlando in close partnership with the families and survivors. The 10-year mark falls during this transition. For visitors coming to the site in 2026, the experience is different from past years — the building is gone, but the ground itself remains the place where the 49 lost their lives, and the community continues to gather there. Flowers, candles, and mementos still appear regularly.
For the most current information on the new memorial’s design, construction timeline, and how to visit during the transition, watch the City of Orlando’s official communications and the city events calendar. Details are evolving and will continue to evolve as the new memorial takes shape.
If you visit outside of June 12, do so quietly. It is a place of grief as much as remembrance — and now, also, a place of building.
Ways to support the community
Showing up on June 12 matters. So does what you do the other 364 days of the year. Here are concrete ways to support the work that the community has been doing since 2016.
Support the new memorial. The City of Orlando is leading the development of the new permanent memorial at the Pulse site, in partnership with the families and survivors. Watch the City’s official channels for ways to support the construction and the public-art components as plans are released.
Support scholarships in the names of the 49. Multiple scholarship funds exist in the names of victims, supported by their families and local universities. These funds have helped queer and Latino students for nearly a decade.
Support Equality Florida. Equality Florida has been a central force in LGBTQ+ advocacy in the state since before 2016, and more so since. Their work on legislation, civic engagement, and community protection is ongoing.
Support LGBTQ+ mental-health resources. The survivor community has been doing this work for ten years — many survivors live with PTSD, chronic pain, and grief that does not diminish with time. Organizations that fund LGBTQ+-affirming mental health care, particularly those serving Latino LGBTQ+ communities, deserve sustained support.
Honor a specific victim by name. Multiple community-maintained resources document the lives of each of the 49. Wear their name. Speak it. That is one of the simplest and most direct forms of remembrance.
Vote and advocate. The community has worked hard since 2016 to protect LGBTQ+ rights at the local, state, and federal level. That work is not finished. Voting, contacting elected officials, and showing up for civic processes is part of how the community continues.
How Orlando holds this day
June 12 in Orlando is held as a day of community-wide remembrance. The City of Orlando, the families of the 49, the survivor community, and dozens of community organizations coordinate to mark the anniversary. Local clergy, civic leaders, survivors, and families speak. A moment of silence is observed broadly — many businesses, including venues across downtown, pause to mark the time.
Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community — which gathers, celebrates, grieves, and advocates throughout the year at spaces like those listed at /lgbtq-events-orlando/ — carries June 12 as a permanent part of its calendar. The remembrance is not only an LGBTQ+ event; it is a civic one. It draws people from across the city and across the country who understand what Pulse meant and what the loss of the 49 cost.
The Latino community in Orlando, and the broader Latinx LGBTQ+ community across the country, holds this day with particular weight. Most of the 49 were Latino. Latin Night at Pulse was a specific space, serving a specific community, and the attack was also an attack on that community. The remembrance honors that fully.
A note from Anthem
Anthem joins our Orlando family in honoring the 49 lives we lost on June 12, 2016. We carry their memory with us. Tonight is not about us — it is about remembering, holding each other, and continuing the work the community has carried since that morning. If anyone needs a quiet space, a familiar face, or a community around them, we are here — but only after the work of remembering has been done. We remember. We continue. anthemorlando.com
Ten years on, the community continues. The names of the 49 are spoken at vigils, written on walls, carried in scholarship funds, and remembered by families who will never stop holding them. The original building is gone, but the ground remains, and the new memorial is taking shape. The work of protecting LGBTQ+ lives — particularly the lives of queer Latino people who have faced both homophobia and racism — is not finished. June 12, 2026 is a day to pause, to be present, and to recommit to that work. For official ceremony details, visit orlando.gov/Events. We remember. We continue.