WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Bloomington’s LGBT community is reacting to the deadly shooting in Orlando, where a gunman attacked a gay nightclub during “Latin Night” and left 49 victims dead. Bloomington PRIDE and the PRISM Youth Community will be holding a candlelight vigil Tuesday night on the steps of City Hall, beginning at 7:30pm(EST). Additionally, the Back Door is having a letter writing event this evening from 6pm-9pm (EST), where participants are encouraged to write to their legislators; as well as express sympathy for the victims.
The executive director of Bloomington PRIDE, Sarah Perfetti, said the decision to hold the vigil was made during a board meeting while news of the shooting was still coming in. She says PRIDE has been surprised by the level of support: “We didn’t know how many people would come; we were expecting – honestly, I was expecting – 50-60 people. And then when the numbers for the event on Facebook were 100, 200, 300… now we’re at 530 people who say they’re going, which is an indicator. It’s not going to be exactly that, but that’s way more than we anticipated. So we requested permission from the city to have the event on the City Hall steps, which is a good public place for everybody. They’re also going to provide some security there. Tons of organizations have been reaching out to me, our youth director, as well as different board members; saying ‘how can we help, how can we get involved’. Individuals from the community saying ‘I don’t have money, but I have time’ or ‘I have money, but I can’t come, how can I help. So we’re sending them the link for them to donate to the victims in Orlando.”
The link to donate is weareorlando.org. Perfetti says the local reaction to the shooting has been overwhelmingly positive and sympathetic. The incident in Orlando is seen as particularly distressing because it represents an assault on a queer space similar to those in Bloomington. The Pulse nightclub, the scene of the shooting, was a well-known landmark in Orlando’s queer night life.
Perfetti commented on the significance of the space; “It’s been a mix or reactions from people. I mean, everybody feels that it is very tragic. I have seen things going around online; people saying pretty awful things like ‘Oh, at least it was just gay people’ or ‘At least they weren’t innocent’ – things like that. Not a single peep from anyone in Bloomington that sounds anything like that. It hit really close to home because we have one Queer bar in Bloomington – the Back Door – and people were out on Saturday night; and even before the incident, the Back Door Hosted an event for us- a fundraiser – we did a local celebrity lip sync battle with local celebrities. And something like that could easily have happened on Friday night when we were all there. Or on Saturday. For me, personally, it’s so upsetting because it could have been me there.”
Public officials including President Obama and Indiana governor Mike Pence have offered their sympathies for what is being called the worst mass shooting in recent US history. The vigil will be Tuesday evening at 7:30pm (EST), in front of City Hall. The Back Door’s letter-writing event began today at 5pm, and the venue is also hosting a fundraiser on Wednesday.
