When the events of the night and day after the Pulse attack unfolded, Ben Johansen, founder of the Orlando Ribbon Project, worked to create a symbol of unity, support and hope for the LGBT community.
49 people were killed on June 12, 2016 by a gunman who called 911 during the attack and pledged allegiance to ISIS. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
GALLERY | Remember the 49 Pulse victims
Orlando United Day: Share acts of love & kindness to continue unity one year after Pulse tragedy
The Orlando Ribbon Project was born. Johansen started with one roll of rainbow ribbon, one role of black ribbon and a box of pins. He placed a black ribbon across the rainbow ribbon, similar to a police badge and handed them out to volunteers. The requests started pouring in and one roll of ribbon turned into miles of ribbon.
Since then, over 300,000 ribbons have been made and sent around the world in support of the victims and the survivors of the Pulse attack. Celebrities have been spotted with the ribbons and now Johansen is asking everyone to wear a ribbon worldwide on June 12th each year to remember the lives taken in the tragedy, and honor the love that spread out from this tragedy to unite the world.
The Orlando Police tweeted that they will proudly wear the ribbons in remembrance of the Pulse tragedy on June 12.
Some of our folks spent the morning helping to make these ribbons, which OPD personnel will wear on June 12 to honor #Pulse https://t.co/5srIUJGbBx
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) May 31, 2017
OPD @ChiefJohnMina proudly sporting his @orlandoribbons for #OrlandoUnitedDay #OrlandoRibbonProject has supplied us with 1,009 of them! pic.twitter.com/MJidvZdgP3
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 7, 2017
For more information and to order ribbons, contact The Orlando Ribbon Project or send an email to info@orlandoribbonproject.com or ben@embellishfx.com.
Follow The Orlando Ribbon Project on FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM and tag your photos #TheOrlandoRibbonProject #TheRibbonMaker #OrlandoStrong #WeArePulse #OnePulse.
