Today the Bachelor Forum & the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley hosted a community vigil to remember the lives lost in Orlando. Hundreds of people turned up.
I didn’t much care for all the government officials and their speeches but was moved by what LGBT activists had to say: a focus on hate crimes, gun culture and the consistent murderous brutality towards the LGBTQI community (not just yesterday but every day), innumerable anti-LGBT bills that are active across 22 states and the prejudice inherent in stupid debates about bathrooms, the intersection of racism and homophobia, Black lives matter, Latinx lives matter, the rejection of fear and the need to challenge bigotry in all its current manifestations (including anti-Muslim bigotry), the meaninglessness of “praying” for the LGBT community when many mainstream religions haven’t done enough to combat/eliminate homophobia, a vow to respond to hate with love and solidarity, and finally the need to acknowledge the damage that was done and be able to heal.
