Over a hundred people gathered in front of the State House Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil to honor the five people killed at an LGBTQ night club in Colorado Springs over the weekend.
Speakers read the names of the victims and details about their lives, based on what has been shared by their family members publicly so far.
Others shared their experiences facing threats and violence in New Hampshire because of their LGBTQ identity, including 30-year old Ariel Moore.
“I’m tired of these tragedies happening,” she told the crowd. “I’m tired of opening up Facebook ads, scrolling through the news and seeing my siblings murdered in cold blood for the simple crime of existing.”
Among those who spoke were James Roesener, a newly elected state representative from Concord, who recently made history as the first openly trans man elected to a State House anywhere in the country.
“I am very angry, and I know we're all angry,” he told the crowd. “And I'm learning the skill of recognizing that anger is a protector of hurt.”
Willow Young, who is trans and lives in Exeter, urged people to counteract messages of hate and misinformation coming from hate groups and some anti-LGBTQ activists.
“A small minority of people are driving a language of hate,” she said. “Let us be that larger language of love and start calling it out: Hate is deviant. Hate is what is breaking us apart."
