Mother of Orlando victim delivers powerful speech at DNC
Christine Leinonen spoke just one month after her son was killed in Pulse nightclub in Orlando
“It takes about five miutes for a church bell to ring 49 times. I know this because last month my son Christopher, his boyfriend Juan and 47 others were murdered at a club in Orlando.”
–Christine Leinonen, speaking during the third night of the Democratic National Convention. Leinonen became the unfortunate face of many parents’ grief on June 12, as she desperately searched for news of her son Christopher in the aftermath of the shooting. She later learned that both he and his boyfriend Juan Ramon Guerrero had died in the attack.
“Christopher was my only child”’ she told the crowd. “As I used to tell him, you can’t do better than perfect.”
Leinonen spoke of Christopher’s grandparetnts, who met in a Japanese interment camp, saying her son’s knowledge of their struggle meant that “it was in his DNA that love always trumps hate” — a key slogan for the Clinton campaign.
She also discussed firearm regulation, an issue that quickly became a prominent topic for LGBT activists in the wake of the Orlando shootings.
“When I went into labor, the hospital put my off-duty gun in a safe. I didn’t argue,” she said. “I know common sense gun policies save lives.
“The weapon that murdered my son fires 30 rounds a minute. And Orlando’s city commissioner pointed out the terrible math,” she continued. “One minute for a gun to fire so many shots. Five minutes for a bell to honor so many lives. “I’m glad common sense gun policy was in place the day Christopher was born. But where was that common sense the day he died?
“I never want you to ask that question about your child.”
Watch her full speech below:
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