I went to a vigil tonight for the 50 victims of this horrific anti-gay hate crime shooting in Orlando.
not only has the mass shooting shaken me to my core, and made me fear to even leave my house (though I had the courage to do so anyway), but I also was hit particularly close to home by this attack. I have so many friends who have friends and family of their own who were [i]there[/i] during the attack. one of my best friends has a gay brother who used to go clubbing every night with his partner. they live right next door to that club, and were woken up by the gunshots. afterwards, their entire apartment building was on lockdown for hours. another of my friends, her husband has an aunt who is a nurse. she was taken hostage by the shooter. she was unharmed, but she was still being held hostage when the shooter was killed. she afterwards volunteered to help tend to the injured at the hospital. another of my best friends has a friend who was killed. only 22 years old.
okies. so. during the vigil, the speakers were all great. wonderful, really. they hit all the points (some I agreed with more, some I agreed with less, not the point).
but whenever a speaker would call the crowd to speak out on social media and in person against anti-LGBT hate, or bullying, you'd get murmurs of "yeah". when they call for lobbying to ban guns, you get fervent roars of applause. and then when they call to stop the bathroom bills, you get murmurs again.
that made me uncomfortable.
later on, another speaker called out to remember that these were mostly black and latinx trans and gay people who were killed. will you all stand up against anti-trans hate? protect people of colour? remember and defend and affirm the queer black and latinx people? complete silence.
lobby congress to ban AR 15's? roars of applause again.
I snapped. livid. stormed up from the middle of the crowd all the way up the stairs of city hall to the podium, ranting about it. snatched the mic right off the podium and yelled at the crowd "THIS IS NOT ABOUT GUNS OR RELIGION! IT'S ABOUT THE LGBT!"
I slam the mic back down, storming off. still yelling that our lives are not political points. some asshole yelled out "shut up, bitch!"
so I screamed back "FUCK YOU!"
these assholes think they are allies. fuck their false sympathy bullshit prayers. fuck their self-satisfying appearance at a vigil for the victims of an anti-LGBT hate crime to ignore LGBT rights issues and fuel their own political agendas using our deaths to make their points.
the vigil was filmed and uploaded to facebook in two videos. I appear almost halfway through the second video.
part 1:
www.facebook.com/helen.jamesst…part 2:
www.facebook.com/yayshirley/vi…the videos are objective, so if you want to judge me, go ahead. I don't give a shit what anyone says.