Local Reaction to Orlando Shootings

Vigils were held in Denver and Boulder on Sunday evening to honor those killed in the Orlando night club shooting.

In Boulder, members of the Boulder Islamic Center expressed solidarity with the GLBTQ community at a vigil held at the Boulder Pride House organized by Out Boulder.

Hadi Abdulmatim with the Boulder Islamic Center said that Muslims stood with the GLBTQ community.

Local Reaction to Orlando Shootings kgnu

Survivors Organizing for Liberation (SOL) and Buried Seedz of Resistance (BSEEDZ) released the following statement:

Innalillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un | إِنَّا للهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ | Nacemos del Creador y Ahí Regresamos

We honor and pay tribute to our trans, two spirit, and queer relatives that are now passing on into spirit world. We honor and love you and your relatives. May your spirits feel emboldened when you are reunited with the divine. In lak’ech. Tu eres mi otro yo. You are my other me.*

The lives lost today in Orlando are being used to justify heightened militarization and police presence within this country and abroad. The history of queer and trans communal spaces are rooted in acts of resistance against police brutality and targeted violence by state militarized forces. Police violence continues to be a serious and legitimate concern for LGBTQ people of color. Police violence takes many forms including refusal to take a complaint, harassment, discrimination, profiling, unjustified arrest, physical assault, entrapment, and sexual violence. We refuse to accept suggestions that increased police presence in our queer and trans spaces will improve risks of violence or increase any sense of safety.

We recognize and honor queer and trans Muslims as a part of our community. Islamophobic sentiments in light of the events in Orlando situates Muslims in our community as vulnerable to heightened acts of violence. We know islamophobia and homophobia as the same monster known by different names. The heightened anger and fear towards Muslim individuals and communities erases the lived realities of queer & trans Muslims. We know our liberation to be bound with that of our Muslim brothers and sisters. Si te hago daño a ti, me hago daño a mi.

Moving forward, we call on our Denver community to help us support those experiencing violence in its various forms by sharing the number to our hotline. SOL/BSeedz works directly with LGBTQ communities experiencing and surviving violence. We emphasize our solidarity with the Muslim community and offer our hotline as a resource for reporting and seeking support regarding acts of Islamophobia in addition to any variety of violences.