LGBT/straight come together in Riverhead to remember Orlando victims

The Peconic River sunset silhouetted the line of uniformed police officers keeping watch over the gathering in downtown Riverhead’s Grangebel Park Friday night to remember the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando last Sunday.

About 50 people turned out for the candlelight vigil organized by South Jamesport civic leader Angelo DeVito. Beginning with a prayer offered by the Rev. Enrique Lebron, pastor at Riverhead United Methodist Church on East Main Street, a series of people took the microphone to share their thoughts about what happened last weekend — and, for many who spoke, what it means to be gay in a world where too often that still means being the target of discrimination, hatred and violence.

Nina Keller, a 19-year-old college student who grew up in Riverhead, said she couldn’t watch the news in the aftermath of last weekend’s violence, which shook her to the core.

“I never met these people — but these were my people,” Keller said.

“I don’t care that it doesn’t matter to you that I’m gay. I want it to matter because horrible things are happening to my people because of one simple facet of their identity,” she said.

“We don’t have safe spaces. It’s why club-goers were at Pulse that night. We don’t have safe spaces. We don’t hold hands in public because somebody might get upset or offended or abusive. Some of my friends say they won’t go to a gay bar or a Pride march ever again, because they are afraid now,” Keller said, urging people to stand together, stand tall and be proud.

“I’m here and I’m not going anywhere,” she said.

Lorraine DeArmitt, a retired Methodist minister urged all people to “stand in solidarity to resist hatred” however it may be expressed. “We need to resist the hatred against other people for whomever they are.”

A woman who identified herself as Donna and described herself as “a very happy lesbian” said the victims were in a place “where they felt they could enjoy themselves without being discriminated against or afraid,” a place “where they could dance and celebrate and hold someone’s hand,” she said.

“They were dancing. They were happy. They were celebrating and they thought they were safe,” she said.

She urged people to remember them by doing the same. “Make sure that we remember them and dance. Go home and put your music on. Just dance. Be free and dance.”

Downtown Riverhead resident Vince Taldone said it was “a horror looking at the photos of those wonderful young people” and recalled an earlier time “going out, hitting the dance floor and waiting for the future to unfold.”

“We have made a good deal of progress,” Taldone said. “Even in Riverhead, a fairly conservative place, look at all the people out to show support. I’m really thrilled that we can feel safe to come out here tonight.”

Others spoke about gun violence.

Bob Keller of South Jamesport reminded the crowd that yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the gun massacre in a South Carolina church.

“To turn this horror into an excuse to hate more people is really bad,” he said.

South Jamesport resident Ethel Sussman said it’s ironic that this month is National Gun Violence Awareness Month. She read statistics about gun violence.

“Two children under age 14 are killed each week from accidental shooting. Gun violence is the second-leading cause of death for people under age 20 after car accidents. The mere presence of a firearm in a domestic violence incident increases the risk of homicide 500 percent. Every day, 32 people are killed by another person through gun violence, 51 commit suicide with a gun and 45 people are shot accidentally, many of them fatally,” Sussman said.

“People talk about gun control and homophobia,” said Maryellen Weaver, a teacher at Pulaski Street School. But how we raise our children is really the crux of the matter, she said.

“I teach children who are physically abused, emotionally abused, sexually abused…I am seeing the man that did this grow up in front of me. Yes, some illnesses are biologically based, but others are caused by trauma in childhood,” she said.

“We should not just come together in times of grief, in times when there is a tragedy,” DeVito said. “We should find a way to come together as a community to be sure that we in our community learn to respect and provide for the dignity of everyone who lives here, regardless of who they are, who we think they are or how they present themselves. It’s something that we in this community need to work towards.”