Lady Gaga, Pinoys Join Massive Crowd at LA Vigil for Orlando
Steve Angeles, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
https://youtu.be/-nPvIklxKAs
LOS ANGELES – Tearful mourners at a vigil for the Orlando shooting victims received a pleasant surprise from a pop idol Lady Gaga, a staunch ally of the LGBT community.
Pop icon Lady Gaga made a surprise appearance and joined thousands in condemning the attack against the gay community.
“This is an attack on humanity itself. This is an attack on everyone. Tonight, i gather humbly with you as a human being,” Lady Gaga said.
Other LGBT leaders were present too.
“We gather tonight in solidarity with our brothers and sisters and their families in Orlando and we gather tonight in heartfelt grief,” said LGBT Center CEO, Lorri Jean.
Hundreds gathered at the footsteps of the Los Angeles City Hall for a tearful tribute to the victims of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, Florida.
“Celebrating pride and having that fear instead of celebrating all that achievements we’ve experienced the past year, it’s a wake-up call to remind everyone our work is not done yet as an LGBT community,” said Camille Araullo of the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
The names of the victims were read as the crowd used their mobile phones to light up the sky. Elected officials and faith leaders took turns in giving words of encouragement.
The tragedy in Orlando hit close to home as California still mourns last December’s San Bernardino shooting.
The two incidents, as well as Sunday’s arrest of a heavily armed man en route to Los Angeles’s gay pride parade, has stirred calls for gun control.
“For them to be killed in an area that’s supposed to be safe, that’s actually very frightening and also for somebody to have access to that kind of weapons, it says something about gun control,” said Lee Te of the Bayanihan Bible Group.
Other interfaith vigils also took place across southland, calling for unity with not just the LGBT community, but the Muslim and Islamic communities as well.
(Source: ABS-CBN.com)