NORTHAMPTON — Rainbow flags fluttered in the breeze Sunday evening as over 70 LGBT community members and their allies stood in solidarity outside of City Hall in response to the Orlando nightclub shooting.
The shooting killed 50 people and injured many others early Sunday morning at Pulse, a gay nightclub. One of the victims, Stanley Manolo Almodovar III, is originally from Springfield, according his Facebook page.
The attack was carried out by a gunman identified as Omar Mateen, who authorities said pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a 911 call shortly before the attack. The occurrence has been called the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Still, Valley residents refused to respond with hate.
Pam Hannah of Northampton, who identifies as queer, referred to people of Muslim faith as “brothers and sisters” and said it is “unacceptable to let grief and fear turn into hate toward another group.”
“If, as a city of queers, we can’t come together in support of our LGTB and Muslim communities,” she questioned, “Who is going to do it?”
The shooting coincides with LGBT Pride Month in the U.S., according to a statement issued by Noho Pride.
“It (Pride) commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City — when lesbians and gay men stood up for their rights to safely gather in a bar and socialize, drink and dance,” Noho Pride spokesperson J.M. Sorrell said, noting that Northampton’s Pride event was celebrated on May 7 with a record attendance of 25,000 participants.
“We grieve the deaths and emotional toll for the survivors of Pulse in Orlando,” she said. “This horrific, intentional mass shooting will not stop us from our mission to ensure equality and acceptance in all areas of life for LGBT people.”
Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren addressed the tragedy before a speech at the World War II Club in Northampton Sunday evening.
“We’re here today on a very sad day,” she said, seconding that the “act of terror” comes right in the middle of Pride celebrations throughout the country.
“Our hearts go out to the families of those who were killed and injured, also to the community in Orlando, also to the LGBT community,” she said.
Just Saturday the senator was in Boston wearing a rainbow feathered-boa in the city’s own Pride parade.
“I don’t march in the Pride parade,” she said. “I dance in the Pride parade. It’s a celebration, and yet we wake up this morning to the reminder of how much hate there still is out there.”
The same hate that Hannah refuses to be a part of, despite how deeply she said the event hurts.
With tears in her eyes, she said that when she first came out in her early 20s, gay bars were the only place where she felt safe.
“It was almost a religious experience for me to be in the midst of all the beautiful queer people,” she added, noting that for many young LGBT people gay bars and clubs acted as a safe house.
“How dare you take that away from us,” she questioned.
Warren said “the frustration over why we don’t make a deeper inquiry into how people get guns and how much that puts all of us at risk continues to grow.”
She added that the Senate’s recent efforts for “more sensible restrictions on access to guns” had been blocked by Senate Republicans.
“It is hard to have hope in this Senate that we will make any significant change, but I’ll say this — that is what elections are about.”
She expects the issue of how “we make ourselves safer” will come up again in the 2016 elections.
“People will have to decide — do we want to be a country where everyone is armed or do we want to be a country that takes some sensible measures in dealing with guns,” she said.
Voices joined downtown singing “This Little Light of Mine” and “We Shall Not Be Moved,” and across the street passersby stopped in front of Faces’ Main Street store to read text on the window which read “Our hearts are in Orlando.”
The impromptu gathering was the result of several informal posts on social media, asking people to show up to grieve with one another and to stand against hate.
Rev. Todd Weir of First Churches of Northampton said that it is most important to remember that while there are people who use violence in a homophobic or islamaphobic manner, most aren’t like that.
“The big message is showing people we believe in love and tolerance and acceptance,” he said, noting the church recently celebrated 20 years of it’s open and affirming culture. “People aren’t alone in this and there is still a lot of love in the world.”
Warren said the message of Pride is that “we are a people who pull together.”
“We cannot come out of this shooting more fractured and pointing more fingers at each other,” she said.
Hannah plans to continue looking for goodness in every person of every background, and she says she will still dance.
“Our collective liberation is inherently tied to one another,” she said. “Here we are, and they are not taking that away from us.”
Saturday night a dance party benefiting the victims will take place at the World War II Club from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on a $10 to $25 sliding scale. More information will follow on the Q Praxis Facebook page.
On Tuesday, First Churches will partner with St. John’s Episcopal Church, Edwards Church of Northampton and other downtown religious communities to hold a candlelight vigil at St. John’s on Elm Street near Smith College at 5:30 p.m.
Sarah Crosby can be reached at scrosby@gazettenet.com.