Emotional vigil held in remembrance of Orlando shooting victims
Persad clinical therapist Jenny McClarren speaks about the Orlando shooting that killed 49 people last week. McClarren led a candlelight vigil at First Presbyterian Church in Washington Friday.
Allison Barnhart of Bentleyville, right, lights the candle of Aggie Smida of Monessen during the vigil. The names were read of the 49 who were killed in Orlando last week, followed by a moment of silence.
Kayla Hazard of Youngwood reflects during the candlelight vigil ceremony at First Presbyterian Church in Washington on Friday, June 17. After a moment of silence, the group sang the song þÄúSeasons of LoveþÄù.
Jenny McClarren said a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando might have created the opposite of its intended effect.
“I feel like at first, it was an attempt to attack the idea of pride, but I think it backfired,” she said. “Instead, I think it promoted more solidarity and more pride within the community.”
Feelings of unity mingled with a sense of loss during an emotional vigil Friday evening at First Presbyterian Church on East Wheeling Street in Washington, a remembrance of the 49 people killed early Sunday morning at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.
McClarren, a clinical therapist with the Washington office of the Persad center, a human services organization whose mission, according to its website, “is to improve the well-being of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning) communities, and the HIV/AIDS communities” in Western Pennsylvania, led the event. She urged the roughly 55 attendees to celebrate the lives of the victims, whose names or photographs were on display as she described the ramifications of the massacre.
The shooter, Omar Mateen, was an American who professed allegiance to the Islamic State.
“Along with the sadness, grief, anger and rage, there’s also a heightened sense of vulnerability,” McClarren said. “A distant terror that we read about in the news now feels closer to us, and something that we can experience in our daily lives.”
The event also included a reading of the names and ages – ranging from 18 to 50 – of the victims, candle lighting and a group rendition of “Seasons of Love,” from the Broadway musical “Rent.”
“I came in solidarity with Orlando – to show my support,” said Allison Rae Barnhart, 49, of Bentleyville. “And to stand with my community.”
Barnhart said she was at her first PrideFest in Pittsburgh when her mother called in the wake of the shooting to ask if her daughter was OK.
“There was this panicked 85-year-old lady on the phone wanting to know if I was safe,” said Barnhart, who identifies as transgender.
Mitch Post, 44, of Moon, a friend of McClarren, said he was pleased with the show of support.
“There a lot of people like me who aren’t from the (LGBT) community who were here as a show of support,” he said.