Pulse survivor Brandon Wolf returns to Equality Florida to confront anti-LGBTQ+ extremism

Brandon Wolf is back, "on the front lines," he said, "at ground zero, in my home state," just when Florida needs him most. And he tells The Advocate he’s bringing with him "the kryptonite to fascism [and] authoritarianism."

The activist, gun violence prevention advocate, and survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting nearly a decade ago has left the job of national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., to rejoin Equality Florida. For more than four years, he managed media for the Tampa, Fla.-based organization and served as its press secretary. Now, he’s returned to Equality Florida as its senior director of communications strategy.

In an exclusive interview on his first full day on the job, Wolf told The Advocate it is "the right time."

"My time at HRC was beautiful," Wolf said, calling his experience an "incredible journey" and his team "remarkable" and "incredibly talented."

"The thing that I said to them is what I'll say to you, which is, 'I'm not headed back to the front lines in spite of my time at HRC. I’m headed back there because of it,'" said Wolf. "It felt like the right time to be home and fighting alongside my colleagues in Florida."

Related: Brandon Wolf, Pulse Survivor and Advocate, Joins Human Rights Campaign From Equality Florid

Returning to Pulse

Wolf said he felt the timing was also connected to the event that changed his life forever. The official announcement on Monday came less than a month before the 10th commemoration of the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando that killed 49 people, most of whom were LGBTQ+ and Latinos and Latinas. Wolf survived by hiding in a bathroom, and told The Advocate last year that he chose not to return for a private tour of the building before it was demolished to make way for a public memorial.

But this time is different. Wolf told The Advocate he will be there on June 12 not only to represent Equality Florida but also as a survivor whose life until that day was on a very different trajectory.

"At that time, I was working at Starbucks, and my dream life was to move to Seattle with my little townhouse downtown and maybe a Prius that I would plug into my garage," he said, with the aim of moving up the corporate ladder at Starbucks. "And then my life was turned upside down at Pulse. Our community was shattered. Forty-nine people that we loved more than anyone were ripped away from us. And the things that matter changed.

"I realized that it wasn't enough to just ride normal off into the sunset if future generations of queer kids didn't ever get to experience that slice of normal," said Wolf, "that it was my job to fight for the next generation to have it better than we do."

Wolf shared with The Advocate a tradition he follows every June 12.

"I always start the day with ice cream, because it is my favorite June 12th breakfast," Wolf revealed. "It helps me get through the rest of the day." His plan is to spend that day "with people that I love" and attend the ceremony the evening of June 12.

"I feel a deep sense of obligation to go and fight alongside the people who've done so much to care for me, especially in the wake of that tragedy 10 years ago," he said. "If we're going to beat the Donald Trumps of the world, the right-wing zealots of the world, we're going to have to beat them at ground zero. We're going to have to beat them where they think they've got it in the bag. And Florida is a place that they think they've got it in the bag."

Related: Brandon Wolf won’t return to Orlando’s Pulse nightclub where he survived the murder of friends who never left

A message for Gov. Ron DeSantis

"I want Ron DeSantis to know as he finishes his time as governor of the state, that we didn't go anywhere and that we're not going anywhere, that try as he might to silence us, to snuff out our joy, our pride, to crush us under the weight of authoritarianism, we're still in Florida. We're still here. We're still queer. It's still our state, too. And there's nothing he can do about that," he said, adding: "I hope he goes to bed every night knowing that he failed at his attempts to erase LGBTQ Floridians."

Wolf concedes that he's up against a far less positive perception of Florida across America.

"I hear it from people all over the country that people wonder if Florida is worth fighting for. " They wonder if Florida has been lost forever," he said. “Nothing about this is normal." This is not how it's supposed to be. All of the fear, the anxiety, the overwhelm, the grief, the deep grief that people feel right now is real and it's valid.

"All of those things that people are feeling," he said, "are being foisted upon them by a handful of people who are capitalizing on it, whether it's for profit or power. The thing I would say about this moment is that those who oppose equality and freedom only win when they can convince us that fighting back is hopeless. They only win when they can convince us that we're in it alone."

In his new role as strategist, Wolf revealed his plan for a counterattack.

"They try to separate us off into our little silos so they can take us out one by one, which means the antidote to their strategy is sticking together," he continued. "It's the kryptonite to their vision of fascism [and] authoritarianism."

Wolf believes remembering what the LGBTQ+ community has already overcome should be our daily inspiration.

"Every time our backs have been against the wall, we found a way to turn immense pain into monumental progress," he said. "It was people who were being harassed and tormented by police, violence inflicted upon them in New York, that sparked a movement. It was people living with and dying of HIV and AIDS. It was their courage that sparked medical innovation, changing everybody's lives.

"It was the couples who risked everything, holding hands on courthouse steps, saying, 'My love is love and deserves to be recognized,' that changed the laws in this country.

"And it's trans and nonbinary people who show up every single day in defiance of this relentless hate that inspires so many people, especially so many young people, to dare to imagine a world where they can be fully authentically themselves."

Related: Orlando tears down ‘horrific’ Pulse sign. Survivor Brandon Wolf says it once meant safety

Wolf’s Message for trans Floridians

Wolf was asked what specifically he'd tell Florida's trans and nonbinary community, directing his answer to one friend, a nightclub photographer who had often worked at Pulse and through a twist of fate was not there when shots rang out that fateful night in June 2016: Melody Maia Monet. Now, she is the Transgender Resource Manager at the LGBT+ Center in Orlando and runs a peer support group.

"I am so proud to fight alongside you.I am so proud to be a Floridian alongside you because you are what makes Florida great. It is your strength, your resilience. It's your joy. It's your light and pride that make Florida worth fighting for. And I want you to know that you're not in it alone," said Wolf. "Help is on the way."

Wolf added that Equality Florida will continue its work for related causes, from reproductive rights to immigration rights to voting rights.

"We understand that there cannot be a free Florida if some people are not free," he said. "And so we have to work in solidarity with so many other incredible partners to fight for freedom for all."

Related: Pulse Nightclub Shooting Remembered Amid Calls for Action

‘The Dru Project' coming to an end

Not long after the nightmare of June 12, 2016, Wolf co-founded The Dru Project, a nonprofit named to continue the work of one of the 49 victims at Pulse, his best friend, Christopher Andrew "Drew" Leinonen, who, in 2002, started the first gay-straight alliance at high school in Seminole.

In the decade since its founding, the Dru Project has awarded more than $300,000 in scholarships to dozens of young LGBTQ+ leaders to help them pursue higher education, granted more than $20,000 to support GSA groups, and created a GSA guidebook that's been downloaded in 47 states and 15 countries. Wolf revealed to The Advocate that next month’s awards gala will be its last.

"We just felt like it was the right time to pass the torch," he said. The event will be held downtown on June 13 at Anthem Orlando.

"I’m so excited to be back with that crew for one last hurrah, to gather people, to enjoy a drag show, drinks, the same things Drew would be doing if he were around on June 13th, 2026. And then to give away a bunch of money to young leaders who are already changing the world," said Wolf. "That’s the stuff that has filled my cup over the last 10 years. And it feels right that that's how I'm going to close out the weekend."