Arkansans are joining with the rest of the nation in grieving for victims of Sunday’s mass shooting in a gay nightclub in Florida.
Human Rights Campaign state Director Kendra Johnson says at a vigil Sunday night in Little Rock, there was a wide-shared sentiment that daily fears of many LGBT people were realized and magnified in the attack.
“Many people who walk down the street and are holding their partner's hand face violence,” she said.
Johnson says LGBT community members and allies also spoke about resilience and a continued struggle for equal rights. She says while Omar Matteen may have been mentally ill, his target of a LGBT space reflects the vulnerability the groups face in the United States.
"He was possibly a mentally ill person who lived in the context of a society that condemns a whole class of people. And so even though his actions may have been irrational," she said, "It comes from the narrative of the society in which he lives,” Johnson told KUAR.
At least 49 people were killed and others remain wounded after Sunday night’s massacre by a self-proclaimed ISIS adherent.
The Unitarian Universalist Church in Little Rock is holding a service for the victims of the attack Monday at 6 p.m.
