Candlelight vigil held in Oxford for Orlando shooting victims

Community members come together to support the LGBTQ+ community and honor the victims of the Orlando shooting  at Lamar Park in Oxford, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (Photo | Cady Herring)

Members of the Oxford-University community gathered Tuesday night at Pat Lamar Park to commemorate the victims of the June 12 shooting in Orlando.

“(Orlando was) the worst mass shooting in American history,” said Spencer Pleasants, president of the UM Pride Network. “But this was the worst hate crime in LGBTQ+ history, and we will not forget that.”

In addition the 49 who lost their lives, 53 more were injured when Omar Mateen opened fire into the crowd at the Pulse nightclub.

Pleasants said the shooting may have occurred in Orlando, but the grief will also be felt in Oxford.

The event garnered a crowd of around 100 individuals. Many identified as members of the local LGBTQ+ community and at least one attendee knew a victim personally.

“That was my friend,” they said as the name of Kimberly Morris was read aloud. Morris, a bouncer at the nightclub, was the eighth victim identified by authorities.

The vigil was organized by the UM Pride Network in addition to other community support organizations such as the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, PFlag of Oxford and North Mississippi, the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement.

Speakers included Pleasants; Robert McAuliffe, past president of UM Pride Network; Jennifer Stollman, academic director for the Winter institute; Gail Stratton, with PFlag, and Shawnboda Mead, director of the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement.

Tears were shed and attendees held  hands as vigil contributor Kenneth Jones read a poem from Maya Angelou in honor of the victims.

“When we continue to define love through the lens of hate, how could this not happen?” Stollman asked. “We must work together across this neighborhood and nation to stop this God-forsaken violence.”

The shooting took place nearly a year after a Supreme Court ruling legalized gay marriage in the United States.

Multiple speakers at the event reminded attendees to support one another and to fight for the equality and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.

“This is personal,” Pleasants said. “In spite of the darkness, we will remain standing.

“We will continue to build each other up and hold each other together.”