Dignity?

  I saw in the news that Congress has voted to make the Pulse Nightclub a national memorial. It was five years ago that a deranged gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 others. This nightclub was an LGBTQ establishment. The gunman was killed and so the reason for the attack is not known for certain, although assumptions can be made. Can anyone really know the mind of a mad man? This designation as a National Memorial does not come with national funding. It's purpose is to serve as a memorial for hope, love, and unity. That is what Congress says. 

 I have mixed feelings about that. A nightclub as a memorial? Whereas all those that were killed or injured certainly deserve to be remembered designating a nightclub as a memorial just doesn't seem right. I just think that perhaps a more appropriate symbol could have been chosen. I'm not opposed to a national memorial to honor those lost, to serve as a reminder, I just have reservations about the choice made. Given that we have chosen to fly the Gay flag over our embassies, paint it on walls, and hold parades celebrating the Gay folks, along with a month designated to be proud of being Gay, choosing a nightclub as a national memorial just seems, well, strange. Yes, I get it, people were targeted, most likely for their sexual preferences and there were at the club. Still, in my thinking it is a strange choice. A nightclub that advertises the hottest Go-Go dancers and A-list drag queens and encourages people to experience the Gay nightclub scene. A national memorial? This club is still operating to this day, surely that designation will increase profits! Will they be giving tours to school children? 

 Look I'm just saying I don't feel like designating a night club as a national memorial is appropriate. I would support designating a memorial for that tragic event as an educational tool. I'm not against remembering the victims. I am also against those roadside memorials that have become so popular in the last few years. You know the ones, a cross or flowers placed where the car crash happened, where someone died. I don't like those decals on peoples cars either, when I pass please don't make it into a bumper sticker. That is just my sensibilities. Dignified is what I am talking about. Is there dignity in a  nightclub? Any nightclub? 

 So what happens when the nightclub closes. As a business can we expect it to remain open forever. Isn't a National Memorial forever? What do we do then? Will the government purchase the property, enshrine it as a national memorial site. Will we promote the site as, come see where the bodies fell! Or does the club get bulldozed and one of those signs posted on the spot? I don't believe any of this was really thought through. This is just a reaction to community activists. Not that those activists aren't justified in their desire that the event never be forgotten, that the lives lost be remembered, just the designation of a nightclub as a memorial is misguided in my opinion. It's almost as though the Pulse Nightclub has now been designated as the Mecca for the LGBTQ community. I just question the dignity of the whole thing, just doesn't seem dignified to me. My opinion, yours may differ.