Several thousand people marched from Harvey Milk Plaza in San Francisco's Castro District to City Hall on Sunday evening to mourn those killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando. (Alex Emslie/KQED)
Thousands of people gathered in San Francisco's Castro District Sunday night to mourn those slain at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
"I was just shocked," said Kristian d'Aura, a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which helped organize the vigil. "It might be 3,000 miles away, but it feels really close today."
The gathering was one among many vigils held across the nation after the attack on Pulse, a popular gay nightclub, by a single gunman who killed 49 people, wounded 53 others and died in a shootout with a police SWAT team.
Many people streaming into San Francisco's Harvey Milk Plaza lit candles as the sun began to set over the Castro, a neighborhood with a long history in the fight for gay rights.
"I've been in tears most of this evening," said San Francisco resident Gabriel Lampert, adding that he came to the vigil to make a stand against anti-gay violence. "It's gone on long enough."
Scott Carlson shares a light with Gabriel Lampert at Sunday's San Francisco vigil for victims of a mass shooting in Orlando. (Alex Emslie/KQED)
Some of the Castro's rainbow flags flew at half mast over a makeshift stage where civic and community leaders addressed the swelling crowd.
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"My breaking heart joins your breaking heart as we search to find a way to dispel the hatred that was the cause of last night’s tragedy," state Sen. Mark Leno said, adding that anti-gay and otherwise hateful rhetoric contributes to mass shootings. "Violence does not occur in a vacuum. It occurs in a context, a social and political context."
He said part of that context includes a federal ban on blood donations from men who have had sex with another man within one year.
"The federal government still communicates to our country that there’s something dangerous about our blood," Leno said.
San Francisco Supervisor David Campos said the massacre struck two communities, and focus on LGBT victims shouldn't overshadow violence against Latino people.
"It is not shocking to me that the worst mass shooting in this history of this country would target the queer community," he said. "As a queer Latino man, I’m glad that some attention is being paid to us, but we don’t want to be talked about just when members of our community are massacred."
Campos, like Leno, referenced presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
"There are consequences when you talk about hate," Campos said. "The stuff that happened in Orlando happens. And I am not going to let anyone use this disaster and this massacre to go after the Muslim community."
The Orlando attacker, Omar Mateen, reportedly called 911 and declared allegiance to the Islamic State during the assault. His father told reporters Sunday that he believed Mateen was motivated by homophobia and not extreme religious views.
Dr. Suzanne Barakat, a Syrian-American resident physician at San Francisco General Hospital, told the crowd in San Francisco that the Muslim community "stands with them."
"A year ago, three of my family members were gunned down and murdered execution-style in their home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, because of their faith," she said. "With this unspeakable tragedy, I pray and hope that as a nation, we follow the example set by all of you here today, and that we emerge from it with greater understanding, compassion and love."
Former state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano joined other lawmakers at the vigil in criticizing the National Rifle Association and other groups that oppose restrictions on owning assault-type weapons like the legally purchased semi-automatic rifle Mateen reportedly used.
Ammiano also decried what he called "laissez-faire homophobia."
"'We like gay people, but they can't get married; we like transgender people, but they can't pee next to me,'" he said. "F--- you, you have blood on your hands."
"You know, I’m old, I’m queer, I’m weary and I’m full of gay blood," Ammiano said. "But we are going to fight back and continue, and continue and continue."
After joining the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus in song, the crowd of several thousand marched from the Castro to City Hall.
Christian Herrera at a June 12 San Francisco vigil for the victims of a mass shooting in Orlando. (Alex Emslie/KQED)
Some said feelings of fear hung among those of loss and anger.
"I just don’t feel safe sometimes," said Christian Herrera, a gay Latino man who sat with his head hung over a rack of candles on the steps of City Hall. "I just realize how many people dislike Latinos, or LGBT [people]."
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