That bit is important because on the first anniversary of the shooting when a gunman opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub on Latin Night, killing 49 people and injuring 58 more, McWilliams decided to go to her church and ring the bell 49 times to commemorate each life lost to the violence.

The first year, she said, it was just her while her husband took photos and video of her ringing the bell. But more people joined her the following year. And still more the year after that.

“Now we have so many people that want to come and ring the bell in their memory,” she said.

On Friday, the 10th anniversary of the shooting, still considered the deadliest hate crime against the LGBTQ+ community in American history, 36 people gathered in the church vestibule where a long rope, attached to the great bell in the tower, hangs down through the ceiling. They came singly, as couples, young people and seniors, and families with babies in arms and children in tow. Some were members of the church while others were residents of the larger Winter Garden community. Some knew people who perished that night; others simply wanted to support the LGBTQ+ community in a time of grief.

Julie Butler, a longtime Winter Garden resident and McWilliams’ daughter, spoke briefly as the bell chimed 12 noon high above her.

“Pulse happened 10 years ago at our beloved Pulse nightclub in downtown Orlando. It was Latin Night, so that is why the majority of names that we read and the lives that were lost are Hispanic names," she said. "We like to remember them. We like to remember their families. We like to remember everyone in our community whose families look every way. I have people in my family who are not blood-related to me and that’s a family too. However your family’s made up, we welcome all families here.”

‍

A brief prayer was said, then people lined up to ring the bell as each of the 49 names was read.

“We need to remember that there are 49-plus families that were affected by this and that they have lost a loved one who was just out on a Saturday night to have some fun,” McWilliams said. “They are God’s people, and they deserve to have fun and they deserve to be remembered.”

Lucy didn’t want to share her last name, but told VoxPopuli she was at the church because it was “tradition,” singing the word out as if from Fiddler on the Roof.

Ten years ago, she recalled, her daughter worked at one of the Orlando malls alongside many who also worked at Pulse. Lucy said after the shooting, they couldn’t open the store the next day.

“It was really that bad. Everybody knew somebody. If you weren’t there, you knew somebody who was there,” she said. “It’s sad when you think about it because most were in their prime. And, honey, it was the greatest place to go dancing. The music was amazing. Who cares who you’re sleeping with. It’s nobody’s business.”

Judith Blanchard, 81, told VoxPopuli that she came out to the church “because we need to commemorate this horrible occasion and remember it and do something about this country and the prejudice in this country and the lack of Christian love.” She added that we need “all kinds of love, not just Christian love.”

Henry Wright, 62, wearing a Black t-shirt that said “GOAT— God Over All Things,” told VoxPopuli that he came out as a supportive Winter Garden resident. “I think that when you have discrimination against anything, it’s a discrimination against everything,” he said, riffing on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote about injustice. “God loves everybody.”

“We came as a family because we want to make sure our children have the chance to see love in action and to understand the gravity of what occurred on 6/12/16,” Winter Garden resident D.J. Culberson, 41, said in a text message after the event. He and his husband Bradley Loomis, 42, were there with their sons, Herbie, 17 and Carlos, 10. Loomis’ hair was dusted pink while Carlos was rocking blue-green streaks in his.

‍
“We want to instill in them that the responsibility to defend love and the marginalized is a fight that won’t go away,” Culberson continued. “When they are older, they, too, will bear the responsibility of defending love and standing against any system that tries to exclude any marginalized community.”

“There’s power in community,” said Colin Sharman, a Winter Garden city commissioner who attended the ceremony although not in any official capacity. “You can all feel the spirit that connects us all. We all have a way to tap into it; it’s through positivity and love. Love wins; positivity and love.”

Lynette Fields, 60, said she was grateful to the church for providing the opportunity “for the community to come together to remember not just the names of the people that were lost 10 years ago but also to be reminded that we are called to love our neighbors.” The Winter Garden resident said she works and lives nearby. “This felt like just the right place to be today on this 10th anniversary.”