A vigil has been scheduled Monday at 7 p.m. outside the landmark site located at 53 Christopher St.to remember the lives lost and stand with the survivors of the Sunday shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Paris City Hall began paying respects in the afternoon with a display of American and rainbow flags, while French President Francois Hollande condemned the mass killing as an attack on freedom.
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Boston police spokeswoman Rachel Maguire told The Boston Globe that police will increase security at all of Sunday’s events in light of the shooting in Orlando.
“It’s America that was hit but freedom that was targeted”, Hollande said after signing a book of condolences at the U.S. Embassy, “freedom to choose one’s sexual orientation, the freedom to determine one’s way of life”.
Upstate Pride SC released a statement following the massacre, the country’s deadliest mass shooting ever.
In a telephone interview, San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, who represents the Castro District, said he was stunned when he heard the news about the 50 deaths in Orlando.
A Christian minister who was among hundreds who attended a vigil for the victims said interfaith conversations needed to continue. It’s an attack on LGBT people and their safe spaces.
The crowd packed the street outside The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village carrying rainbow pride flags and posters saying “We Stand With Orlando” as a string of LGBT activists addressed the rally. This was not only a horrific attack on the LGBT community, it was an attack on the freedoms we all hold dear. However, he sees now as a fresh time for dialogue and education about the LGBT community.
An owner of a LGBT clothing store said the tragedy shows more security measures should be taken to guard against those intolerant of gays. “Our hearts and minds are with our US partners”. “I dream of the world reflecting on what we can do to change this violence”.
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“In the Quran it explicitly says if you kill one person, it’s as if you kill mankind. It didn’t have to be a gay nightclub”.
