***Thank you so much for your support of Restored Mural for Orlando. We have stopped selling copies of the chapbook for now, but if you have questions or would like to connect with us, please feel free to contact me directly at roy.g.guzman[at]gmail{dot}com, or return to this page for future updates.***

On June 12, 2016, a gunman in Orlando, Florida, left 50 people dead and 53 injured. Considered one of the deadliest shootings in U.S. history, it took place during Latin Night at Pulse, a gay nightclub which—from a wider scope—represented one of the very few places where queer and trans people could experience a semblance of normalcy.

As someone who grew up in Miami, the Orlando tragedy hit very close to home. My friends lost friends there. Families were torn apart. Not only did it target a space already marginalized, but the majority of the people we lost were queer Latinxs. Nothing could have prepared any of us for this misfortune. I knew that, as a writer, it was important for me to respond to this tragedy in a way that could convey my resistance against this type of violence and serve as an expression of life-affirmation: That I am still here; that I can do something.

My response—“Restored Mural for Orlando”—was originally published in Public Pool, republished on NPR’s Latino USA, and it inspired a piece in the L.A. Times. In it, I write:

                                  …I am afraid of attending places

that celebrate our bodies because that’s also where our bodies

have been cancelled / when you’re brown & gay you’re always dying

twice

The queer Latinx poet Marco Antonio Huerta reached out to me about translating the piece into Spanish. My friend, queer poet and visual artist D Allen, decided to create art pieces responding to the poem and translation.

Together, we have put together this chapbook, with the intention to raise funds to help the direct victims of this tragedy and to support Pridelines, a youth organization in Miami that provided me with the crucial space to figure out my queer identity when I was a teenager.

The cost of the digital copy is $3.

The cost of the physical copy is $8 

The cost of a digital AND physical copy is $10

If you wish, you may simply make a donation towards this project.

**IMPORTANT INFO: if you're downloading a digital copy, a password and link will be E-mailed to you within 48 hours of purchase. Physical copies will begin shipping on August 1 (if you're in or near the Twin Cities, we can arrange for you to pick up a copy sooner; if you're in Chicago from July 25-31, we will have physical copies to sell). For orders outside the United States, please contact us.**

60% of the proceeds will be donated to the Pulse Victims Fund and/or the OneOrlando Fund, both of which directly support victims of the massacre and their families. 10% of the proceeds will be donated to Pridelines. The rest of the funds will be used in the continued production of the chapbook, including donating copies to places focusing on queer and trans lives, physical printing and mailing costs, PayPal fees, and to support the artists of this chapbook.

For the initial funds, we are profoundly grateful to the Hispanic and Lusophone Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics graduate program at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and to the Gender and Sexuality Center for Queer and Trans Life, also at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

Thank you for your invaluable support to this cause.