INTERVIEWS & PHOTOS BY JANE ARGODALE | A Monday night vigil for the victims of June 12’s early morning mass shooting at an Orlando, Florida gay nightclub was held at the site of the Stonewall Inn. The Christopher St. bar became widely acknowledged as the birthplace of the modern LGBT rights movement, after several nights of rioting occurred following a June 1969 police raid of the establishment, whose queer patrons were regularly harassed and intimidated.
The speakers — including Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and numerous LGBT rights advocates — called for New York’s tough gun laws to be implemented across the country, and touched upon the larger national dialogue on safety in the LGBT community, terrorism, and Islamophobia. Among the attendees, however, there was varying interest in the speeches, and a more consistent desire to mourn collectively. As the crowd grew in anticipation of the vigil, Chelsea Now spoke to a few people to find out what brought them to Stonewall, how the tragedy in Orlando was impacting them, what they were hoping to come away with, and what they thought about the national response to the shooting and its aftermath.
ROSETTA GIBSON, 45
In general, whenever somebody kills “in the name of,” it’s offensive. Of course, it’s personally offensive when it’s one “oppressed minority” supposedly killing another oppressed minority. I’m not necessarily believing this hype that it was somebody saying that they consider themselves a Muslim, inspired by ISIS. The older I get, the more I believe in a “that was Satan” kind of thing, because that was just too unbelievable — unbelievably evil, for lack of a better word. When you mourn with others, hopefully there’s an idea that you’re not alone.
No [I’m not looking forward to speeches from elected officials]. Speakers from clergy, yes. Speeches from elected officials, no. ’Cause I kind of think politicians are full of shit. It offends me when we try to say “it’s us against them, it’s us against them, it’s us against them” — no matter who “us” is, and that’s what I think [Donald Trump and other politicians] are trying to do.
NAT CABRERA, 21 & JIMHOLY LONG, 20
CABRERA: We’re both queer, and at least I wanted to support the people who were lost, especially because it was basically all queer people of color, and that’s something that in the media really wasn’t spoken about. It was just really taken primarily from a queer angle rather than an intersectional angle that had to do with race and queerness, and so I think that’s something that should really be talked about.
LONG: The thing about the terrorist attack is that a terrorist attack is defined as an act of violence for the sake of a political purpose, and… we’re not sure what the political purpose of the attack was. There have been rumors about how [the Orlando shooter] said that he was related to ISIS or he was supporting ISIS or he was a branch of ISIS… I can’t really confirm or deny that. The thing is, I’m really worried about the rise of Islamophobia at this moment, because he was a first generation Afghan-American and the thing is, is that we’re worried about Syrian refugees right now, and Syria and Afghanistan are two different countries. I’m Asian-American and my family escaped the Cultural Revolution, came to the United States, immigrated here at first illegally — and then my dad was the first-born, and he became legalized and married my mom; and she got a green card. So, like, I’m just really passionate about issues like that.
CABRERA: I’m hoping that they’ll recognize the intersections of what happened in Orlando; not just LGBT-ness, but related to race and ethnicity; that it was queer people of color, trans people of color — and that’s what I hope is recognized, the violence against that community.
LONG: I’m hoping to get a sense of solidarity, just everyone coming together, showing love and support. Like, I love that sign over there, “Another queer Jew against Islamophobia,” ’cause us minorities are kind of all in this together, and we can’t let this divide us between Muslims and gays because queer Muslims — they exist.
DARIUS HANDS, 25
I am from Florida. My college friends and I used to take road trips down to Pulse, and my identical twin grew up in Orlando, and he visited Pulse pretty much every single weekend. This place was really like a home to us in college a couple years ago, so to see it like that was truly heartbreaking, and just coming out to see and be a part of this and be a part of the community is really good.
I don’t know if I have any specific expectations for [the vigil]. I’m just here for more of… I don’t know, it’s hard being away from everyone in Florida who is experiencing this, so I don’t know, I think I’m coming from more of a selfish aspect of it just to feel with other people who are here. I have some of my friends who are also coming who are also from Florida, so I just want to be around a bunch of people who feel what we’re feeling.
Honestly… I’m not into labels. You can label it a terrorist attack or a hate crime, whichever one you want to take — it’s still a horrific crime. A lot of people died. I know a lot of people who have friends that died, so just getting into the whole “Is it a terrorist attack? Is it a hate crime?” It’s probably both, so whichever label you want to put onto it, I’m okay with both.
I am [looking forward to the speeches], I’m pretty much really into politics, and I think this should be a bipartisan effort, so I’m hoping to hear from Governor Cuomo, but also Republicans who hopefully will also be here, because this is not a one-sided issue. There are gay Republicans, there are straight Republicans, so I’m hoping to hear from everyone.
I don’t even really pay that much attention to Donald Trump, because if you think about it, [the Orlando shooter] was an American citizen. Blocking our borders wasn’t gonna keep him out, so how are you going to justify that? I think that the overall debate and overall tenor is, we have to accept our Islamic brothers and sisters. This is an attack on them just as much as it is an attack on us… so hopefully it won’t turn into that. Of course there will be some people who try to demagogue this issue, and Donald Trump is going to be number one at it, but I expect nothing less.
KAYLA WASIL, 25
I wanted to come and show my support and be a part of the human memorial, remembering and celebrating the people who were hurt and killed. I wanted to see the turnout… It kind of warms your heart to see this many people turn up and be supportive when terrible things happen. Even just being here and seeing how many people are here also in support.
[The Orlando shooting] didn’t affect me personally, or directly in any way, because it’s not like I have friends who were there — but you know, being a member of the GLBT community, there’s always a fear that something like this is going to happen and then something did. And you know, it’s scary, it’s angering, and it makes you scared but also stronger in a way, where you wanna stand up and… do everything you can to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
I get most of my news online, so I’m not seeing directly a lot of the portrayal of it being called terrorist versus a hate crime — but I’ve been hearing a lot about it secondhand. Obviously, it can be a terrorist attack and a hate crime, but it’s important that it’s a hate crime also, and it shouldn’t be used to justify Islamophobia. That’s bullshit, and not everyone who is Islamic hates gays. Everyone needs to be treated on an individual basis.
I’m interested [in Governor Cuomo and other elected officials’ speeches], I honestly didn’t know they were speaking ’cause I joined the event last night on Facebook when I think it was less organized, and I didn’t find out that they were speaking until I was on my way here, but I am interested to hear what they have to say.
ANDREW HARWIN, 65
It’s really important for LGBTQ people in New York to come together as a community to grieve, and to affirm our commitment to our equality and our rights and our respect as human beings.
I felt compelled to be here. What has gone on, it is just really important to come together in our grief and also in our anger, and to commit to moving forward with change in spite of these attacks. It’s just the same as Stonewall — we will not sit by and let this kind of violence keep happening to us. And granted, it’s a natural reaction to all of the change that’s been coming… since Stonewall. But it’s just natural that there’s going to be a reaction and we have to stand up.
I’m interested in hearing what [Cuomo and other elected officials] have to say, I’m interested in the support that I expect they’ll be giving us. But I’m more here to just simply be in community with the other lives. I do think it’s important that our politicians here affirm their commitment to support us, and just take a stand against this kind of violence.
This kind of behavior is just simply not acceptable, no matter who it’s aimed at. I don’t know what kind of issues [the Orlando shooter] was dealing with in his own personal life, his own inner conflicts. I just think it’s a sad commentary on the, I’m going to say shadow, in our society. I’m really, really angry about the availability of assault weapons, and I feel very strongly that we have to get rid of politicians who support the NRA — but I don’t think that’s the entire answer. We’re changing attitudes and, unfortunately, with change comes reaction; and we have to stand firmly.
I wasn’t here at Stonewall, but I was here a couple days after. I’m very pleased to know people who were involved in the gay liberation movement from the beginning.
