"Being raised in a strict Italian family, being gay was frowned upon," the Pulse Orlando website says. (CNN) The Orlando nightclub that became the scene of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history on Sunday morning saw itself as a gay sanctuary. It's co-owner, Barbara Poma, opened Pulse on Orange Avenue in 2004 in memory of her brother John, who died of AIDS, with the idea that it would be a safe place, an educational and community venue and the "hottest gay nightclub in Orlando." The website says Poma opened the club "to keep her brother's spirit alive" after he died in 1991, coining the name Pulse to describe his heartbeat, "reverberating throughout the club." She saw her own family's embrace of her gay brother despite cultural misgivings as evidence that broad acceptance was also possible in the larger society.

Source: CNN June 12, 2016 18:00 UTC