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Eye On Boise

Vigils across state, region follow Orlando shooting…

A candle burns in front of a pride flag while community members gather for a vigil to honor the victims of the attack on a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday at Friendship Square in Moscow, Idaho. More than 150 people attended the vigil. (Geoff Crimmins / AP)
A candle burns in front of a pride flag while community members gather for a vigil to honor the victims of the attack on a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday at Friendship Square in Moscow, Idaho. More than 150 people attended the vigil. (Geoff Crimmins / AP)

Vigils were held across the state last night in memory of the victims of the horrific mass shooting in Orlando over the weekend, in Boise, Twin Falls, Idaho Falls and Moscow. Another is set for tonight at 6 p.m. at Farmin Park in Sandpoint, according to Add the Words Idaho.

Add the Words Chair Chelsea Gaona Lincoln said the shooting, which targeted patrons at a gay nightclub, “underscores the importance of adding the words ‘sexual orientation and gender identity’ to Idaho's Human Rights Act,” to protect Idahoans from discrimination on those bases.

The Boise Weekly reported that at one of two vigils held in Boise on Sunday, on the steps of the state Capitol, Joseph Kibbe, an organizer of Boise’s Pridefest, drew a connection between the Orlando shooting and the recent murder of Boisean Steven Nelson, who was gay; he noted that Idaho’s hate crime law doesn’t cover crimes based on sexual orientation.  "We don't have a mechanism in place to prosecute these individuals. What message does that send to the community?" he said. "This is real and very fresh for this community."

At the evening vigil, which drew more than 200 people, the Idaho Statesman reported that Rabbi Dan Fink drew the same connection. "There is a direct nexus between that ideology and those here in our own nation, state and city who refuse to recognize the full equality of all Americans," he said. "My friends, to believe that last night's events are unconnected to the death of Steven Nelson right here in our backyard is to be at best woefully ignorant, and at worst, profoundly evil."

“Our answer to violence must begin with outreach,” Fink said, “with the opening of our arms and our hearts to one another – to creating precisely the kind of inclusive community that the killers seek to destroy. We must be better than our enemies, for this is the only way to defeat them.”

The AP reported that more than 150 people gathered at the vigil in Moscow; hundreds gathered in Spokane’s Riverfront Park.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press has an analysis here of the responses to the shooting from presumptive presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. And Idaho congressional candidate James Piotrowski, a Democrat running against GOP 1st District Rep. Raul Labrador, issued this statement.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter sent out this tweet this morning: “The First Lady and I extend our deep sympathy to the families and victims of the terror attack in Florida.”



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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