Across The Country, Vigils Honor Victims Of Orlando Attack

“A crisis like the attack in Orlando makes all of us feel powerless”, says Loretta Jay, executive director of B Stigma-Free, the non-profit focused on reducing the stigma on being different.

Vigils will continue to be held in communities across North America on Tuesday, including here in London, to honour the victims of the worst mass shooting in modern US history. CenterLink’s YouthLink Facebook page provides users with a way to share stories, express condolences and communicate with others about the Orlando shooting. “So less gays in the world today”.

So imagine the message that anti-gay hate speech sends to someone who is mentally unstable, let alone such a person who has an assault weapon. From vigils to hotlines, below is a list of where students can go to get help dealing with this national tragedy. Some fundamentalist preachers also chimed in, like Steven Anderson of Tempe, Arizona, whose anti-gay rant on YouTube was pulled after a day. There are those on social media – Muslim and Christian, in the Middle East and the United States – who basically applaud the disgusting actions of Mateen.

The Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, the congregation that protests soldier’s funerals because of the USA military’s policy on gay troops, tweeted: “GOD SENT THE SHOOTER”.

Today, almost 50 percent say they aren’t wrong at all.

After this weekend, when I think of N.C. Pride in September or the nights I wanted to spend partying at Legends Nightclub in my senior year, something in my chest tightens in fear.

“I don’t think the Latino community is any more biased than any other community”, he said.

“What little safe space they had created with this club in Orlando has been stripped from them”, he said.

“Jersey City has the largest gay and lesbian population in the state of New Jersey, and not only that, we are the most diverse city in the country”, said Ward E Councilwoman Candice Osborne.

Noor Mateen, who is 30, was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and claims she tried to convince her husband not to go through with the shooting, the networks said.

Members and supporters of Maui’s LGBT community gathered to honor the victims. “For if there is one group in this country with more will, more experience, and more tenacity than the NRA, it is the LGBT community”, Takei wrote in The Daily Beast. The money was raised in just a 72-hour span.

LGBT activists said their community has always been at the receiving end of bigots from all faiths. “We’re also aware that there are people out there who have been engaging in Islamophobia”, Jake Johnstone, who attended a vigil in London’s Soho neighborhood, told the Guardian. She has noticed, though, that under those posts, commenters often refute the unfounded hatred as being bigoted and ignorant. She said her nephew lost a good friend in the tragedy and is very distraught.

Noticeable were the Muslims among us lighting candles, holding hands and standing in solidarity with their LGBTQ friends and neighbours.