By 2016, Brandon Wolf was finally experiencing normalcy. Growing up Black and queer in rural Oregon, he never felt like he belonged. It wasn't until he moved to Orlando in 2008 that he found true community for the first time.
"I would have been happy as a clam to live the kind of normal that I just wasn't convinced people like me ever got to experience," Wolf said.
That changed in June 2016, when a gunman killed 49 people and injured 52 others in an attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Two of Wofl's best friends were killed.
Wolf says that night set him on a path to fight for change. He's now a nationally recognized advocate for gun safety and LGBTQ+ rights, and works as the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign.
"All of that is driven by my desire to heal through purpose," Wolf said. "Through trying to make the world a better place and again, hopefully creating a future that my best friends would be proud of, too."
Wolf will appear as the keynote speaker at the Grandparents for Gun Safety's 10th Annual Community Forum on October 9. Tickets can be purchased here.
- Brandon Wolf, Pulse nightclub shooting survivor and activist
