More than 700 Tucsonans stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the desert heat in a Fourth Avenue parking lot on Sunday night to remember the dozens of victims of the Orlando mass shooting.
The first to take the stage was the nearly 8-foot Tempest DuJour. The current Miss Gay Tucson America quickly let her guard down as she let the friends and strangers alike know she had lost a friend in Orlando.
βMy friend, Eddie Sotomayor, grabbed his boyfriend who was shot and raced for the door of Pulse nightclub and was shot in the back and killed,β said DuJour, also known as Patrick Holt, an associate professor at the University of Arizona.
While DuJour mourns her loss, she told the crowd not to answer the horrific mass murder by allowing hatred in their hearts and seeing Muslims in a different light.
βReligion did not kill those people. A crazy man with a gun did,β DuJour said.
The peaceful gathering started before 7 p.m. outside of IBTβs Bar & Food, with a number of people carrying printed signs made by the group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Some people carried handmade signs, while others held glow sticks and small candles as they spilled into the street after there was no more room on the sidewalk.
Tucson Police Department Police Chief Chris Magnus and University of Arizona Police Chief Brian Seastone walked with the crowds.
About two blocks of Fourth Avenue had a large police presence during the vigil, with TPD closing the street briefly to vehicles as well as the streetcar.
City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich said the Tucson community was in pain again after witnessing such an attack on the LGBT community in Florida.
βWe know a particular brand of bigotry and hate but we are not alone,β she said. βWe are here together because we know that if we stand together ... we will prevail.β
She noted it was only a year ago that the community was celebrating the Supreme Court decision striking down state bans on same-sex marriage.
Scott Blades, the executive director of Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network, said all of America should weep over the senseless loss of so many people.
