Brooklyn's Borough Hall Wrapped in Wishes for Orlando

Pictured: the banner outside Borough Hall on Friday. Photos by John V. Santore.

BOROUGH HALL, BROOKLYN — Brooklyn's Borough Hall will spend the rest of Pride Month wrapped in a tribute to the victims of this month's mass shooting at Pulse, an LGBTQ club in Orlando, Florida.

A total of 49 people were killed by shooter Omar Mateen, including Brooklyn natives Enrique Rios, who was celebrating a friend's birthday, and Brenda McCool, who reportedly died protecting her son.

Over two weeks, staffers with Borough President Eric Adams's office took massive colorful pieces of fabric around Brooklyn, where they were covered with written messages of support for Orlando and its people.

"Be strong, and remember your loved ones for who they were, not how they passed away," reads one message.

"After the cameras stop rolling, we will still remember the tragedy," reads another.

This week, the banners were stretched around Borough Hall, where they'll remain for the rest of June.

At a Friday ceremony in front of the building, Adams described the gesture as "a very real way of saying we feel the pain of the people in Orlando. We will not surrender to hate. This is about one thing, and that is love."

"We are saddened, but we are not without hope," said Debbie Brennan, board president of the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, who also attended the event.

Debbie Brennan speaks on Friday.

Kim Russell, an activist with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, spoke of the 90 people killed daily by guns (of which about two-thirds are suicides).

"Congress is just beginning to feel the outrage of the American people," Russell said, referring to the body's failure to pass new gun restrictions following the Orlando shooting.

As tragic as that incident was, Russell said, "what makes it more horrendous is it can and will happen again if we remain silent."

Adams struck the same themes, saying both that "assault rifles must be banned," and lauding the goal of America "moving toward [becoming] a gun-free country."

Stefan Ringel, a spokesman for Adams, said that after the banner is removed from the building, pieces will be sent to Brooklyn organizations that work on LGBTQ issues.

Adams also hopes to send pieces to lawmakers in Washington, D.C., Ringel said, in a statement against hate crimes and in favor of new gun legislation.

Eric Adams attaches the last piece of the banner to Borough Hall.