Dromm at a Diversity Plaza vigil Sunday
June 14, 2016 Staff Report
Council Member Daniel Dromm and LGBT community leaders will hold a vigil for the victims of the Orlando Pulse shooting at 7 p.m. tonight at Club Evolution (76-19 Roosevelt Ave).
Eddie Valentin, owner of Jackson Heights’ Club Evolution and Friends Tavern, Laura Martinez, transgender activist, members of the nightlife community and other LGBT community members will join Dromm.
They hope to denounce violence, as well as create solidarity with members of the LGBT nightlife community who feel they have lost their place of refuge after the shooting that took place this weekend at Pulse, a popular gay club in Orlando, Florida.
At least 49 people were killed and more than 50 were injured in the shooting that took place early Sunday morning. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Dromm, along with other elected officials and Muslim and LGBT community leaders, also gathered at Diversity Plaza on Sunday night to pay respects to the victims of the shooting.
“I stand united with my Muslim and LGBT brothers and sisters to denounce this morning’s mass shooting in Orlando and hate in all its forms,” Dromm, who is openly gay, said at the time.
Dromm, along with other speakers, also called for a federal ban on military-style assault weapons.
“I remain committed to ending senseless acts of violence and will continue to advocate for the passage of common sense gun control laws that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals,” he said.
“I am sick and tired of having to denounce, once again, a hateful, barbaric terrorist attack that took the lives of so many innocent people from us,” State Sen. Jose Peralta said. “When is this madness going to stop?”
“What was perpetrated in Orlando is another reminder that we must take action, and one step we can take as a society, is ending hate, ending gun violence. Enough is enough,” Peralta added.
Council Member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland echoed these thoughts.
“No one should be targeted because of who they love or who they are. It is against the values we all hold dear,” she said. “Additionally, the weapons used in the attack are entirely too easy to obtain, and we must move beyond rhetoric to take sensible actions and remove them from the market.”
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