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The Dru Project Celebrates Queer Lives and Remembers Pulse

The Dru Project Celebrates Queer Lives and Remembers Pulse

Dru-Project

“He was a best friend to everybody he met. It didn’t matter who you were, where you were from, or what you were into.”

That is how Sara Grossman remembers Christopher Andrew “Drew” Leinonen, one of the 49 victims who lost their lives on June 12, 2016 after a mass shooter entered Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL. Wounding 53 more, this event is now the deadliest incident in the history of violence toward LGBTQ people. The shooter was killed by police after a three-hour standoff.

Grossman and a couple other friends launched a nonprofit called The Dru Project shortly after, as a way to best honor Leinonen’s memory.

“We took that energy and created this organization to help support LGBTQ youth,” she continued. “Essentially, our mission is to help empower LGBTQ youth and honor Drew and help spread love.

The Dru Project has raised more than $100,000 since its inception.

Leinonen first met Grossman when she was a freshman at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

“Drew was one of the first friends I made,” she recalled. “I went to the first Gay/Straight Alliance meeting that was offered for new freshmen, and that is essentially where I met most of my close friends in college. Drew and his roommate came up to me after the meeting and said they liked my shirt or something, and that was basically that.”

The day of the Pulse shooting and a couple days after, Grossman received messages from close, college friends thanking her and Leinonen.

“He and I were kind of like the mom and dad introducing the new, baby gays into the group,” Grossman said. “People would say how comfortable they felt with who they are because Drew and I were there, how they were able to go to gay clubs and feel safe about it. Obviously, it was too late for him to do anything with that information, but I knew I had to do something to keep his legacy moving.”

Grossman will never forget the horror she felt when she first learned of the Pulse shooting.

“It’s an interesting story,” she said. “I am not a person who sleepwalks, and around 1 a.m. Denver time, my dog had woken me up to go outside. I remember going through the motions of putting on my shoes and taking him outside. Somebody waved to me, but I didn’t pay attention because I was essentially sleepwalking. I got back in bed, and I didn’t check my phone, which is also weird. This was about the time that everything was happening in Orlando.

“Then, I woke up around 9 a.m. Denver time, which obviously puts me a little bit behind Eastern Time, but I had, like, 20 missed calls, 30 text messages, a ton of Facebook messages from people in Florida, people from home, people we went to college with, all asking if I’ve heard from Drew, if I’ve heard about Orlando, I’m so sorry, when was the last time I went to Pulse. It was like this wave of what the hell? What happened?

“I opened Facebook and saw the news everywhere that there was a shooting at Pulse,” she continued. “I was like, ‘Pulse was a place that I went to all the time in college.’ It was our favorite club; it was the coolest spot. It was just somewhere that we could be ourselves, and that hurt. Then, to find out that I had a friend who was there and still missing at this point, I just lost it. I spent most of the day talking with college friends trying to get in touch with Drew, trying to figure out what the hell happened. Unfortunately, he was the very last person to be announced dead. It was, like, a good 15 to 24 hours before we heard anything, and that it was confirmed.”

Leinonen’s partner Juan Guerrero was also one of the 49 victims.

“Juan made it to the hospital,” Grossman explained. “The autopsy reports unfortunately told us that it is probably because Drew shielded him on the dance floor. Between the two of them, they took, like, eight or nine bullets.”

Grossman currently serves as The Dru Project’s communications director. No stranger to gun violence prevention advocacy and LGBTQ advocacy, she previously worked with One Colorado, the Gill Foundation, and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

“At the time, I was doing a lot of freelance brand management and social media work,” she said. “I was working for a couple different startups, and when I got back from Drew’s funeral, they canceled all of my contracts because I was so grief-stricken. I didn’t know what to do with myself. Then, about a month after realizing that maybe I need to pay my bills, I was like, ‘Maybe I need to get back into advocacy work.’ I went to the Colorado nonprofit job board, and five minutes prior to going to the website, the Matthew Shepard Foundation position had been posted. Spending three years there, who better to learn how to honor than from Dennis and Judy Shepard?”

Founded in Florida, The Dru Project is now an entity in Colorado. Grossman says many people, especially in Denver, have reached out asking how to get involved.

Known to hold multiple fundraisers and events, The Dru Project’s most recent event helped raise more than $21,000 for COVID-19 relief.

Organizations like One Pulse Foundation and One Orlando Alliance sprung up due to the Pulse shooting, but Grossman believes The Dru’s Project’s heartfelt based story is what makes them beneficial.

“Drew was somebody who the One Pulse Foundation now calls the Angel of Acceptance because he truly was friends with everybody,” she said. “I mean, over 1,000 people showed up to his funeral. Something coincidental is that the Westboro Baptist Church decided that out of all the funerals, they were going to come and protest his. So, LGBT+ Center Orlando put together a bunch of angel wings similar to the ones that were at Matthew Shepard’s funeral. There is also the weird coincidence that there is a huge memorial painting that depicts all of the 49 victims, as well as other important people in the LGBTQ universe.

“When I went to visit it for the first time, my jaw dropped because right behind Drew and Juan was a portrait of Matthew Shepard looking over them. It all lined up, and the artist obviously didn’t know that there was any connection between Drew and me and the Matthew Shepard Foundation. I was very honored to be able to go down with the Shepards to Orlando two years ago. The artist has loved ones put their hand prints on their person, so the Shepards put their hand prints on Matthew, while I put mine on Drew.”

Related article: Matthew Shepard 20 Years Later

Pulse is now a memorial and will soon be turned into a museum to honor the victims as well as educate people on LGBTQ hate crimes and violence.

Leinonen was a mental health counselor by trade and a graphic designer by hobby. Grossman often wonders what he would be doing today if he was still alive.

Drew-the-Dru-Project

“I think he would be very vocal right now about how disappointed he is with Donald Trump and the way he has handled basically everything since the inception of his presidency,” she said. “I think because he was an ardent Hillary supporter, he would be very vocal about that. He would probably still be helping as a mental health therapist, or maybe he would be doing something directly with LGBTQ youth by now. It’s hard to say, but I like to think that we are pushing forward the legacy that he would be proud of.

“A lot of people, when they go through this kind of grief and lose somebody so close to them, they can either turn in or lash out,” she continued. “The fact that we have gotten as far as we have right now is proof of moving anguish into advocacy. The Dru Project has not only helped with my grief personally, but I can tell you that we have touched so many people with this story who have been willing and wanting to help. From drag queens in West Hollywood who threw a huge event called Gun Violence is a Drag in January, to celebrities who have come and performed at our events like Jonathan Bennett, we are just so thankful to everybody who has participated in The Dru Project with such open hearts and minds. We are very thankful.”

For more information and to get involved, visit thedruproject.org. Also, keep an eye out on their social media, as they will be rolling out two weeks of digital content leading up to the Pulse four-year anniversary.

Photos provided by The Dru Project

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