The City Council of the City of West Hollywood presented a Key to the City to Barbara Poma, Pulse nightclubowner and founder of the onePULSE Foundation. The presentation took place during the regular teleconference meeting of the West Hollywood City Council on Monday, February 7, 2022.
Video of the presentation is available as part of the City Council meeting, which is available for viewing through the City’s WeHoTV YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/wehotv (or use this direct link: https://youtu.be/jAfadeCn4gw) and through the City’s website at www.weho.org/wehotv (or use this direct link).
The West Hollywood City Council, additionally, issued two Proclamations on Sunday, February 6, 2022 – one to Barbara Poma, and one to the onePULSE Foundation – in recognition of their dedication and commitment to preserving the legacies of lives lost at the Pulse nightclub.
Pulse nightclub was the location of a tragic mass shooting that took place on June 12, 2016 that left 49 people dead, 68 people injured, and countless other lives affected. Barbara Poma established Pulse nightclub in 2004 as a tribute to her brother, John, who passed away from HIV/AIDS. The Orlando, Florida club was embraced by the LGBTQ community for its culture of love and acceptance. Sadly, it became known as the site of the deadliest mass shooting in US history, as well as the deadliest incident of violence against LGBTQ people in the nation.
In the aftermath of the massacre, Poma established the onePULSE Foundation to fund, design, and construct a National Pulse Memorial & Museum at the original site of the Pulse nightclub. In the interim, the onePULSE Foundation has established a memorial as a sanctuary of quiet reflection and love dedicated to honoring the senseless loss of innocent life. The onePULSE Foundation has also created 49 individual annually awarded college scholarships named in honor of each victim and designed with input from the victims’ families to highlight their specific vocations, hobbies, or life aspirations. Poma now serves as Executive Director of onePULSE Foundation and works as an LGBTQ rights advocate.
Since incorporation in 1984, the City of West Hollywood has become one of the most influential cities in the nation for its outspoken advocacy on LGBTQ issues. No other city of its size has had a greater impact on the national public policy discourse on fairness and inclusiveness for LGBTQ people. More than 40 percent of residents in West Hollywood identify as LGBTQ and three of the five members of the West Hollywood City Council are openly gay. The City has advocated for nearly four decades for measures to support LGBTQ individuals and has been in the vanguard on efforts to gain and protect equality for all people on a state, national, and international level.
For more information, please contact Andi Lovano, the City of West Hollywood’s Community & Legislative Affairs Supervisor, at (323) 848-6333 or at alovano@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
[…] February, West Hollywood City Council honored Poma with a Key to the City for her work at the foundation, which began raising money less than a month after the massacre […]
What? No more porn stars to give the key to the city to? Happy to see someone worthy receiving this honor.
A much more appropriate recipient than Stormy.