Thousands gathered Monday night in front of the historic Stonewall Inn in NY to remember the victims of the mass shooting at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando.
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Hundreds of people gathered at the birthplace of the gay rights movement – the Stonewall Inn in New York City – where 50 roses lie on the ground.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, singer Nick Jonas, actor Tituss Burgess and several openly gay members of the City Council spoke, each decrying the assault in Orlando and calling for calm.
Following the nightclub shooting in Orlando early Sunday, Annie Anderson, engagement and inclusion manager for MPR’s Public Insight Network, reflects on the significance of gay bars and the role they play as a safe space.
“It’s clearly an act of violence against people the shooter doesn’t understand”, said a woman named Sarah, who thought the attack was unambiguous. “And that no matter who you are, where you’re from, or where you’re going in your life you have the right to love and be loved”.
Makeshift memorials of flowers and notes dotted the lawn.
An hour before local government officials and community leaders were scheduled to make speeches, the chants began: “New York loves Orlando!”.
A vigil is planned in front of Stonewall for tomorrow evening.
A sign in memory of the victims of massacre at the Pulse nightclub is carried during Sunday’s 2016 Gay Pride Parade in Philadelphia. “We have to keep going forward”, said a third.
Giovanna Lopez, who says she knew several victims of the Orlando nightclub shootings, lays flowers for her friends at the historic Stonewall Inn in NY.
But we know that around a third of New Zealanders are uncomfortable working with people from the LGBTI world who are out. In 1969 gay patrons of the unassuming bar fought back violently against routine police raids with spontaneous demonstrations and unwillingness to meekly accept arrest for simply being there.
The mayor also added that there will also be a large NYPD presence at key sites around the city, especially LGBT community sites. Kissing is a sign of love, not hate, and people should not live in fear. “This is NY at its best, coming together to speak with one voice”, said Cuomo. Queer Nation organizer Ken Kidd told the crowd outside the bar: “We come today because we want to value the people who were lost in Orlando.We come today for the past”.
Vigils weren’t just held in the U.S. “I went into my vehicle, and the tears were rolling down my eyes”, Brunilda Vega, 58, a Puerto Rican resident of Harlem told the Observer.
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“We are a community that will never be silenced again”.
