KINGSTON – In the wake of what was the most horrific mass shooting in American history, members of the local community: gay, transgender and straight people stood shoulder to shoulder in Kingston Monday evening in a display of solidarity to show their support for, as well as honor the memories of, the over 100 killed or injured victims of the Pulse Club in Orlando, Florida.
Over 200 people came out to show their support alongside of one another. Those in attendance marched from the LGBTQ Community Center down to the end of Wall Street, where they then held a candle light vigil.
The people of Kingston remembered the 49 victims who died in Orlando, and as many others who were wounded
“The center is all about, and this month of pride is all
about, honoring people as individuals, and persons of worth and dignity,
and supporting them,” said LGBTQ Acting Executive Director Frederic
Mayo. “We did this vigil tonight as a way of remembering that
the world is only going to be better if we remember the people who have
fallen, but we go forward in love. We go forward into a better future.
We find a way to heal and support each other, and we remember the power
of community.”
Bob Gibbons, a long time gay-rights activist, said he has been exposed to homophobia and acts of violence against gay people many times, especially when he was younger since he is now in his 70s. As an activist during a time of much more volatile opposition and violence, he admitted to always being confident and brave, but the horrific slaughter in Orlando has invoked some fear in him.
“It’s very scary,” Gibbons said. “It’s very scary because the homophobics, and that’s what this guy was; he wasn’t a terrorist from ISIS, although he may have been connected to it: he was a homophobic, and how he got a gun into this place [Pulse Club] was beyond me and it’s scary. Anybody like him could just walk up to any gathering, like this one tonight, and start something and just because they hate gays.”
Catherine Fertel, a local advocate for the gay community, said if anything
comes of this tragedy she hopes it won’t contribute further to what
she said is the mainstream medias’ scapegoating of American Muslim
people.
“Regardless of what the attacker may have stated about his motivation being politically involved, or religiously involved, there are many, many Muslim LGBT people,” Fertel said. “Who knows how many people, who were present in the Pulse club, may have even been Muslim themselves and I don’t want this to become something that U.S. media takes and uses to fuel its own Islamophobia, and hatred of people who are in the Middle East and of that heritage.”
