![orladno gay bar shooting orladno gay bar shooting](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/06/12/13/pulse-shooting-4.jpg)
“To me, what it says is that while there are a few out there who may not understand, there are thousands more who love and support us,” he said. But it made it all the more important to come together. The fact that the shooting happened at a gay bar was not a coincidence, Nicoara said. “I just wanted us to show our support and solidarity.”
![orladno gay bar shooting orladno gay bar shooting](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/2016/06/12/NPRJ/ghows-PJ-64d8b96e-29f9-47b3-929f-a973109e1e74-49d8dcf7.jpeg)
“It kind of exploded into a huge thing,” he said of the hundreds of RSVPs on Facebook. So he took it upon himself to plan a sunset vigil at Ten, a bar at 10th and Piedmont, long considered Main and Main in Atlanta’s LGBT community. When Ben Nicoara’s friends started asking online what was planned to show support for the Orlando victims, he didn’t see anything. They’re planning to raise money to see how they can help put Pulse back together, and there are jobs available in Atlanta’s gay establishments should anyone need them. “I don’t know where you can be safe anymore,” he said.Īt Burkharts Pub, general manager Don Hunnewell said he gathered several bar owners Sunday afternoon to see how they could support Pulse. Stockstill said he had been to Pulse in Orlando and cried when he heard the news of the shooting. “It really is time for our community to come together and support on another,” he said. He wanted to participate in a planned vigil in the parking lot of the club to show that life goes on. But chair Jim Stockstill - his stage name is Pin K Lemon-aid - said the performance on Sunday was different. The Armorettes, a drag group that fundraises for HIV/AIDS in Atlanta, performs at the gay club Burkharts every Sunday night.
![orladno gay bar shooting orladno gay bar shooting](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/2016/06/14/NFTU/ghows-LK-dcfc46c2-b18f-4791-b6bf-472552017c6e-4349a744.jpeg)
Two candlelight vigils for the victims of the Orlando massacre occurred Sunday night in Atlanta. “It’s really an attack on our American way of life with its freedom to live out our lives,” Kreis said. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the deadly assault. Sunday’s shootings added a new dimension to the history of hate against gays and lesbians. The attack on the Pulse nightclub was especially frightening because such establishments are often seen as a sanctuary, a safe place where same sex couples can hold hands without worry, said Anthony Michael Kreis, a legal scholar at the University of Georgia.
![orladno gay bar shooting orladno gay bar shooting](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0862/7808/products/Star-Hip-003_1024x1024@2x.jpg)
I hope a lot of people go out tonight, and I think they will.”Ī gunman wielding an assault-type rifle and a handgun opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub early Sunday, killing at least 50 people and wounding 53 before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. He fought that fear with defiance: “Well, I’m going out tonight. “I had friends say this morning, ‘I’m afraid to go out to a bar,’ ” said Philip Rafshoon, who had owned the popular Outwrite gay bookstore and coffee shop. Local leaders of the LGBT community were hesitant to say the Orlando attack represented a step back from advancements such as the legalization of gay marriage and the mainstreaming of the Atlanta gay pride festival, but some people said they felt an insecurity they hadn’t experienced in years. “They are my family whether or not I know them.” “These people’s lives were destroyed by homophobia,” said Lewis Bello, a performer in local gay bars. This was the worst mass shooting in American history, and it targeted them. “It could happen anywhere at any time.”Ītlantans are no strangers to attacks of terror and hate, and the carnage brought people back to an anxious time when we had three terror attacks in seven months: the 1996 bombing of Centennial Olympic Park, as well as the bombings of the lesbian night club the Otherside and an abortion clinic in 1997.Įxpressions of grief and support emerged from many sectors of metro Atlanta, but the sharpest pain was felt in the LGBT community. “I wonder if it could happen here,” said Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, an advocacy group for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.