Outside The Stonewall Inn, Hundreds Mourn Orlando Shooting Victims

• Pictured: mourners outside The Stonewall Inn. Photos by John V. Santore

WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN — Hundreds of mourners, defiant in their grief, filled Christopher Street outside The Stonewall Inn on Sunday night, less than a day after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history had left a trail of more than 100 victims at a gay night club in Orlando, Florida.

The site of the first "Stonewall riot" in 1969, the building is seen as ground zero of the modern gay rights movement.

As a spring breeze lifted the rainbow flags adorning the landmark, flowers were placed on the sidewalk outside Stonewall, in front of a sign that read "Stop The Hate."

Overlapping anti-violence chants rose and fell, while some of those gathered held each other and cried.

A series of speakers took to a flight of steps adjacent to Stonewall, raising their voices without amplification, which gave their already emotional words a feeling of even greater intimacy.

"Think of a person you have lost because of anti-LGBT hate," said an organizer with Queer Nation NY, which helped put together Sunday's event. "We must be in this together."

"Know that there is power in numbers," said another.

"We cannot go back. We have to keep going forward," said a third.

Kevin Grays used the human microphone made famous by Occupy Wall Street to project his thoughts to the crowd.

"Pulse was not just a gay club," he said, referring to the site of the shooting. "It was a place of solidarity where we can be free to be ourselves."

He gestured to Stonewall, and said to strident applause, "A gay bar started a revolution!"

"We are at a crossroads in our country," he continued, laying out two paths forward. "One is the path of hate and fear, and the other is of love and kindness. Chose the path of love now."

A transgender activist named Hannah Simpson offered an appreciated moment of levity.

After explaining that she mentors transgender children, she asked rhetorically, "How do you explain this, this violence, the madness?"

"I tell them, the only option we have is to love our lives more, to get our education, to get amazing jobs, and to go on a date tonight, and tomorrow, and the next day if necessary!"

Stars honoring the dead and injured in Orlando

in the crowd, West Village resident Robin Felsher wrestled with the implications of a day that seemed to involve both terrorism and LGBT hate.

Was it an isolated incident, or was it a coordinated attack, like in Brussels? she wondered, expressing a desire not to jump to conclusions about the gunman's motivations — even though "it's the nature of our species to affix blame."

"It's clearly an act of violence against people the shooter doesn't understand," said a woman named Sarah, who thought the attack was unambiguous. "I think he hates gay people."

Asked what she hoped would come of the day, another woman named Christine looked as if the answer was too obvious to mention.

"Gun control," she said. "It's the common denominator in everything."

"People are always going to hate," she continued, but the fact that the shooter could buy a semi-automatic gun was "disgusting."

Asked if she thought a legislative response was likely, Christine said, "If this isn't going to do it, I'm not sure what will. I don't know what the tipping point is."

Offering yet another message, one sign in the crowd read, "No Scapegoating of Muslims. LGBTQ-Muslim Solidarity."

That was the message a Bay Ridge elementary school teacher named Liz had come to spread.

She said she feared the media and those in office would "use this incident to further their cause of destruction against Muslims, against anyone they can."

She said that many of her young students were Muslim, and that she feared for their safety.

On the steps, a speaker was talking about New York's upcoming Pride week.

"We are marching," he said. "We are marching proud. Don't hide yourself. We're not afraid. Be proud."

A second vigil is scheduled at the Stonewall on Monday night at 6 p.m., to be organized by the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City.

Editor's note: Patch was not able to confirm the spelling of Kevin Grays. We apologize for any error.