York LGBT community 'devastated' by nightclub mass murder in Florida

Yorkregion.com
June 12, 2016
By Lisa Queen

Patrizia Lombardi was "devastated" when she heard about the massacre of 50 people at a gay nightclub in Florida.

The first worry of the Vaughan resident, who is a lesbian, was whether friends of hers in Orlando may have been at Pulse Nightclub when a lone gunman opened fire early Sunday morning.

Fifty people were killed and 53 others injured, some critically, in what has become the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

The gunman, Omar Mateen, was killed by SWAT team officers.

Once Lombardi confirmed her friends had not been at the club, she became sickened as she learned details of the terrorist attack on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer and two-spirited community.

"It's atrocious. Honestly, this is having such a huge impact on the LGBT community. Knowing 50 members of our community are dead because one person found the lifestyle not right, is just not right. I'm devastated," said Lombardi, a peer resource worker at Toronto's Egale Youth OUTreach, which offers counselling and a drop-in centre for young people from the LGBTQ2S community.

"We are all devastated. I didn't know what to do or say. We've been watching the news all day. I don't know how this could have happened. Our Pride this year, we will remember the people who have lost in our fight for equality. I think this (prejudice against our community) is bigger, it's not just one person."

While Canada is making great strides towards equality, Lombardi fears the Florida shooting is an indication there is still much hatred against the community in the U.S.