UCLA community holds vigil to commemorate victims of Orlando tragedy

On a banner decorated with a heart logo, UCLA community members wrote colorful messages that read “#QueerLoveIsRevolutionary,” “No. More. Vigils.” and “Let us build a world where we can love in peace,” among other notes.

The banner stood next to the McClure Stage in Bruin Plaza during a vigil organized by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Campus Resource Center to commemorate the victims of a mass shooting in Orlando, Florida.

A shooter killed 49 people and injured 53 others early Sunday morning in Pulse, a gay night club. The shooting, which is being investigated as a terrorist attack, is the deadliest mass public shooting in modern U.S. history, according to the Los Angeles Times.

More than 100 community members listened as LGBT Campus Resource Center Director Raja Bhattar listed the names and ages of the identified victims. Volunteers laid out 49 roses at the front of the stage, each representing a person killed in the shooting.

Before and after the vigil, attendees wrote messages of support for the LGBTQ community in Orlando and at UCLA on a banner and in letters that will be sent to Orlando.

Luis Lira, a project director for the Community Programs Office who graduated in 2015, wrote “Love will prevail” and “Que viva la joteria,” which is Spanish for “long live queerness,” on the banner.

Lira said he wrote the second message because most of the lives lost were Latina/o lives.

He added he felt disturbed at the thought that the shooting could happen anywhere, including queer spaces in LA.

Victor Martinez, a third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student, said his first thought after hearing the news Sunday morning was whether it was safe for him to go outside.

“That could have been me at a club,” Martinez said.

Martinez said he thinks the UCLA community has been especially empathetic because of the murder-suicide on campus June 1.

Matthew Delos Reyes, an Office of Residential Life resident director, said it was difficult to imagine so much violence after LGBTQ accomplishments in recent years, such as the movement for marriage equality.

“My partner and I have come so far to be a married couple,” he said. “For that opportunity to be taken from these people who lost their lives is shocking.”

Delos Reyes added he knew several people who were afraid to attend the Los Angeles Pride festival Sunday after they heard about the shooting. He said he chose to attend the festival to honor those who lost their lives in Orlando, instead of letting fear get in the way of his decision.

Some politicians, including presidential candidate Donald Trump, have focused on the shooter’s pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State.

Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Jerry Kang said attendees should avoid rhetoric politicizing the shooting and acknowledge it as both a terrorist attack and hate crime.

“If we remember that these flags, these people, these lives represent a commitment to love…then maybe we will learn a lesson that goes beyond the chatter of politics,” Kang said.

In a speech, Muslim Student Association programming director Rofida Rakha said she thinks the violence at Pulse violated religion’s purpose.

She began her speech with an Arabic greeting meaning “peace be upon you” and asked the crowd to repeat the saying.

“While the media may associate my religion or my scarf with terrorism and fear, I’m here to assure you this piece of cloth on my head represents a religion that encourages you to have love, compassion and to stand for justice everywhere,” she said.

Bhattar, who identifies as a queer Muslim, said they think the Muslim and queer communities are not in conflict. They added they think the community needs to continue celebrating queer identities without fear instead of being silenced by the threat of violence.

“I hope we don’t get to gather like this again,” Bhattar said. “I hope when we gather again, these gatherings are filled with celebration of love, joy and the lives of these folks.”