City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and DOMA Supreme Court plaintiff Edith Windsor joined thousands of people in front of New York City’s LGBT Community Center. On Monday night, people rallied in response to the murder of Mark Carson and the string of anti-gay hate crimes that have plagued the city in recent weeks. The event started at 5:30 p.m. and is expected to continue into the evening.
The rally follows a vigil that was held for Carson after he died of a fatal gunshot wound to the head. As Queerty previously reported:
Hundreds of New Yorkers gathered to remember Carson, a 32-year-old gay Brooklyn man who was shot and killed in New York’s Greenwich Village Friday in the fifth hate crime to plague the city this month. The peace rally was arranged by Adam Feldman, a theater critic for Time Out New York, who spoke passionately before the crowd about the importance of gun control.
GLAAD is also supporting the rally and is on hand at tonight’s event. Actor Wilson Cruz, a spokesperson for the group, issued the following statement:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
“Our hearts grieve for Mark’s loved ones. While our community has made progress, this is a stark and sobering reminder of the rife homophobia that still exists in our culture. These crimes are intended to scare and silence LGBT people, however as a proud New York native, I am confident that our community and our city will not be silenced, but will rather come together to stop this rash of senseless violence. Speaker Christine Quinn, other elected officials, and the New York City Anti-Violence project continue to showcase strong leadership in addressing the safety of LGBT New Yorkers. Yet, we are reminded still that, until we rid our society of the discrimination that allows us to be seen as inferior and less than human, we will never truly be safe, even in one of the most accepting cities in the world.”
More to come on the story.
