“I’ve been sad and crying for like two days now”.
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New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, at a vigil outside the Stonewall Inn to commemorate the victims of the Orlando mass shooting. I wanted to go home. “I’m very comfortable in my own skin and I’m thankful to have as many close gay friends as I have, people who have been so supportive in my life, and have always been there for me”.
During his speech, de Blasio honored the life of Enrique Rios, a 25-year-old Brooklyn resident who was shot and killed at Pulse while visiting Florida for a friend’s birthday.
“We have to stand together, be proud together”, she added. But Mateen had also expressed hatred towards gays and lesbians, and according to his ex-wife was an unstable domestic abuser. But I also know we are strong resilient people, and we will bounce back.
“People held up LED candles, blinking iPhones and signs that read “#WeAreOrlando” throughout the night.
“This attack highlights the fact that around the globe, every day, LGBT people face oppression, intimidation, and violence”.
“What happened in Orlando was a hate crime, committed by an American-born male who was an angry, homophobic, wife-abusing wannabe cop, twice interviewed by the FBI”, Leah Gunn Barrett, of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, said from the stage. Help us to seek understanding and to find compassion and love in our hearts for those who only know hate.
New York Mayor Bill De Blasio and New York police authorities promised increased security in the coming weeks following the Pulse shooting, particularly at key institutions for the gay community such as Stonewall. But he seemed to win most of the crowd over with a steady call for gun regulations and a declaration that NY would rally around its LGBT community-pledging to hold the “largest Pride parade in history” later this month.
“Until we have a national [gun] policy, none of us are safe”, Cuomo told the thousands of people who stood outside The Stonewall Inn, a gay rights landmark that has become a place for New York’s LGBT community to celebrate victories and mourn losses. After taking hostages and an hours-long standoff, Mateen was killed in a shootout with police shortly before 6am.
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But as de Blasio sought to regain the crowd’s attention during his own remarks, he landed on a target that seemed to unite them.
