Pulse massacre commemorated by The Second City Sisters
Sat. June 13, 2026 10:48 PM by GoPride.com News Staff
the second city sisters
photo credit // michael oboza
It has been ten years since murder of 49, 58 wounded in Orlando
CHICAGO, ILL. -
By Michael Oboza, Special to GoPride.com
Members of The Second City Sisters, The Abbey of the Irreverent Bean, gathered in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood on Friday to mark the 10th anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub massacre, honoring the victims with a blend of somber reflection and vibrant community celebration.
The Pride Month event featured a silent processional along North Halsted Street, where participants carried "Veils of Remembrance and Shame" to acknowledge the ongoing grief and pain from the tragedy. They also carried "Veils of Joy & Blessings," which organizers said were meant to foster healing, laughter, and hope within the LGBTQ community.
Following the processional, the group hosted a bar crawl through transgender-welcoming queer spaces, culminating in a communal blessing and a shared light ceremony to remember the 49 lives lost during the June 12, 2016 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida."
"Tonight is very important to the house because one of our nuns lost a dear friend that night," said Novice Cam P. Bitch, who was participating in only her second outing with the organization. "Tonight is a celebration of life for the ones we lost and to keep the 49's memory alive."
Sister Kenya Nott, who organized the gathering, emphasized the event's dual purpose: remembering a tragedy while asserting the vital importance of safe, intersectional spaces for the queer and transgender communities. Organizers described the event as a testament that "love still dances."
The 2016 attack, which left 49 people dead and 58 wounded at the gay nightclub, remains one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. At the time of the official investigation, former FBI Special Agent Ronald Hopper described the assault as an "act of violence born out of hate." The FBI ultimately classified the massacre as both an act of terrorism and a hate crime.
The Second City Sisters, founded in 2009 by Sisters Kenya Nott, Foxxxy Moron, Peg M. Hardt, Shiny Brite, and Reverend Sister Merry Mae-King, is a volunteer, queer-inclusive group of secular nuns and drag artists. The group focuses on peaceful activism, community service, and self-expression.
The Chicago organization is a local house of the international Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which was founded in San Francisco in 1979 by Ken Bunch (Sister Vicious PHB), Fred Brungard (Sister Missionary Position), Baruch Golden, and Bill Graham (Reverend Mother). The global movement originally drew inspiration from a set of borrowed traditional nuns' habits used by an Iowa theater group in 1976.
During the Chicago memorial, organizers recorded and read the names of the 49 victims killed at Pulse Nightclub:
The 49 people who lost their lives in the Pulse Nightclub shooting are Stanley Almodovar III, Amanda L. Alvear, Oscar A. Aracena Montero, Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, Alejandro Barrios Martinez, Martin Benitez Torres, Antonio Davon Brown, Darryl Roman Burt II, Angel L. Candelario-Padro, Simón Adrian Carrillo Fernández, Juan Chavez Martinez, Luis Daniel Conde, Cory James Connell, Tevin Eugene Crosby, Deonka Deidra Drayton, Leroy Valentin Fernandez, Mercedez Marisol Flores, Peter Ommy Gonzalez Cruz, Juan Ramon Guerrero, Paul Terrell Henry, Frank Hernandez, Miguel Angel Honorato, Javier Jorge Reyes, Jason Benjamin Josaphat, Eddie Jamal Droy Justice, Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, Christopher Andrew Leinonen, Brenda Marquez McCool, Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, Kimberly Jean Morris, Akyra Monet Murray, Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez, Luis Omar Ocasio Capo, Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez, Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, Joel Rayon Paniagua, Enrique L. Rios, Jr., Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, Gilberto R. Silva Menendez, Edward Sotomayor, Jr., Shane Evan Tomlinson, Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, Franky Jimmy DeJesus Velázquez, Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez, Luis Sergio Vielma, Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, and Jerald Arthur Wright.
Members of The Second City Sisters, The Abbey of the Irreverent Bean, gathered in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood on Friday to mark the 10th anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub massacre, honoring the victims with a blend of somber reflection and vibrant community celebration.
The Pride Month event featured a silent processional along North Halsted Street, where participants carried "Veils of Remembrance and Shame" to acknowledge the ongoing grief and pain from the tragedy. They also carried "Veils of Joy & Blessings," which organizers said were meant to foster healing, laughter, and hope within the LGBTQ community.
Following the processional, the group hosted a bar crawl through transgender-welcoming queer spaces, culminating in a communal blessing and a shared light ceremony to remember the 49 lives lost during the June 12, 2016 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida."
"Tonight is very important to the house because one of our nuns lost a dear friend that night," said Novice Cam P. Bitch, who was participating in only her second outing with the organization. "Tonight is a celebration of life for the ones we lost and to keep the 49's memory alive."
Sister Kenya Nott, who organized the gathering, emphasized the event's dual purpose: remembering a tragedy while asserting the vital importance of safe, intersectional spaces for the queer and transgender communities. Organizers described the event as a testament that "love still dances."
The 2016 attack, which left 49 people dead and 58 wounded at the gay nightclub, remains one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. At the time of the official investigation, former FBI Special Agent Ronald Hopper described the assault as an "act of violence born out of hate." The FBI ultimately classified the massacre as both an act of terrorism and a hate crime.
The Second City Sisters, founded in 2009 by Sisters Kenya Nott, Foxxxy Moron, Peg M. Hardt, Shiny Brite, and Reverend Sister Merry Mae-King, is a volunteer, queer-inclusive group of secular nuns and drag artists. The group focuses on peaceful activism, community service, and self-expression.
The Chicago organization is a local house of the international Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which was founded in San Francisco in 1979 by Ken Bunch (Sister Vicious PHB), Fred Brungard (Sister Missionary Position), Baruch Golden, and Bill Graham (Reverend Mother). The global movement originally drew inspiration from a set of borrowed traditional nuns' habits used by an Iowa theater group in 1976.
During the Chicago memorial, organizers recorded and read the names of the 49 victims killed at Pulse Nightclub:
The 49 people who lost their lives in the Pulse Nightclub shooting are Stanley Almodovar III, Amanda L. Alvear, Oscar A. Aracena Montero, Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, Alejandro Barrios Martinez, Martin Benitez Torres, Antonio Davon Brown, Darryl Roman Burt II, Angel L. Candelario-Padro, Simón Adrian Carrillo Fernández, Juan Chavez Martinez, Luis Daniel Conde, Cory James Connell, Tevin Eugene Crosby, Deonka Deidra Drayton, Leroy Valentin Fernandez, Mercedez Marisol Flores, Peter Ommy Gonzalez Cruz, Juan Ramon Guerrero, Paul Terrell Henry, Frank Hernandez, Miguel Angel Honorato, Javier Jorge Reyes, Jason Benjamin Josaphat, Eddie Jamal Droy Justice, Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, Christopher Andrew Leinonen, Brenda Marquez McCool, Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, Kimberly Jean Morris, Akyra Monet Murray, Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez, Luis Omar Ocasio Capo, Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez, Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, Joel Rayon Paniagua, Enrique L. Rios, Jr., Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, Gilberto R. Silva Menendez, Edward Sotomayor, Jr., Shane Evan Tomlinson, Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, Franky Jimmy DeJesus Velázquez, Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez, Luis Sergio Vielma, Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, and Jerald Arthur Wright.