Syracuse community members mourn loss of Orlando shooting victims with candlelight vigil

The rainbow flag gently caught the wind, pushing it out over the group of speakers on the steps of Syracuse City Hall. Several hundred Syracuse community members gathered at City Hall, spilled out onto the street, to listen to the speakers and mourn the victims of the Orlando shooting.

A large majority of the crowd wore articles of clothing bearing the pride colors — flags, T-shirts, scarves, posters, lanyards, earrings and so on. They listened and reacted to the words emitted by the speakers.

“Violence breeds violence, hatred breeds hatred.”

“We are not weak, we are strong.”

“Rest in pride, beloved Orlando 50.”

The crowd gathered Monday evening to remember the victims of the most deadly mass shooting in United States history. About fifty people were killed and 53 were seriously injured in the early hours of Sunday at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. The candlelight vigil in Syracuse was held by CNY Pride and played host to a number of community members and activists that spoke to the large audience.

Rachel Gilbert | Feature Editor

Both the American flag and the pride flag were at half-mast, lightly rustling in the wind over speeches given by clergy members, members of the LGBTQ community and activists. A statement was presented on behalf of Mayor Stephanie Miner who was not in attendance.

Each speaker was introduced by Bonnie Strunk, coordinator of FAIRNY, the organization behind Pride Day at the New York State Fair. The vigil was organized by FAIRNY alongside CNY Pride and Sage Upstate.

“We felt that it was important that people had the opportunity to gather together, to mourn the loss of so many people,” Strunk said. “We also felt it was so important for people to be able to have the opportunity to express the fact that we are down but not out, we are going to come back from this stronger and stronger than ever.”

Many of the attendees at the event brought signs, banners and flags. Some of them expressed solidarity: “Syracuse stands with Orlando.” Flags included pride sayings, such as “Born this way.” One poster had a political spin: “Stay out of this Trump.”

As speakers made passionate remarks about the events in Orlando, gun control and LGBTQ pride, the crowd clapped, cheered, whistled and whooped in response.

Rachel Gilbert | Feature Editor

AJ Striffler, a pastor at the First English Lutheran Church, gave a speech that drew many reactions from the crowd. Striffler said LGBTQ communities around the county are affected by the shooting because it could have happened anywhere.

“It happened when pride celebrations are kicking off and more of us are in the mindset of celebrating and being proud,” Striffler said. “We let our guards down because this is a time of celebration and joviality, we’re not expecting to be killed.”

Striffler said he hopes the shooting will bring the community, of all ages and of all faiths, closer together as the fight for equality is not over.

“Just because we fought the fight 10 years ago or 15 years ago or 20 years ago or whether we’re new on the scene, we’re not exempt from the work,” Striffler said.

Community was a theme reflected in the words of many of the speakers. They called upon the audience to band together and stay strong. Many audience members linked arms and cradled each other’s shoulders.

When the speeches were over, the crowd was led in song. Nearly everyone in attendance joined in “We Shall Overcome,” singing the words read off of slips of paper handed out by the chorus.

Rachel Gilbert | Feature Editor

People of all ages were in attendance, from babies to teenagers to an older generation. There were even a number of dogs joining in with the shouts and cheers at the end of each speech and interrupting with the occasional bark.

For some, it was their first pride event. Reena Tretler said even though she has identified with the LGBTQ community for a few years, she has never been to an event celebrating pride. She said the sudden and unpredictable tragedy on Sunday morning told her it was a time to be with the community.

Tretler said although the events in Orlando may scare some people to not attend pride events, she hopes it will inspire them to do the opposite. This week is Pride Week in Syracuse and will end with a festival on Saturday.

“I hope everybody will still go strong, especially as some of the speakers were saying, this is the time to really stand out and say, ‘We are here, we can’t this affect us,’” Tretler said. “It almost makes us stronger to say, ‘This is the time to start speaking out more.’”

This sentiment was echoed by many of the speakers who encouraged the crowd to come to an interfaith church service on Tuesday among other pride events.

Said Striffler: “I think people are going to go into pride with some very different glasses, some very different lenses but I think from this moment on, cross generationally, pride will have a new meaning for everybody.”