Hundreds Attend Hillcrest Vigil Honoring Orlando Victims

I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. It's Monday, June 13. Our top story the names and pictures of the victims in the Orlando nightclub shooting are beginning to be released. The images only make this tragic story more real. 50 people including the gunmen were killed in the attack on the Pulse Nightclub early Sunday morning. Of the 53 people injured, 43 are still hospitalized, some in critical condition. Hundreds gathered at the pride flag in Hillcrest last night. Over there to commemorate the victims of the shooting at the Orlando gay nightclub. Here's a sample of what people there were saying. We shall overcome. My name is Paolo Batista, I'm originally from Orlando. I've had friends affected by this. I'm still waiting for phone calls from some of them. I want to let people know, our community, this can't make us be scared. We can't give in. We need to stand up and be more proud than ever. I'm Nick Moore, for someone to go into a place like that, a place like we have several of around here in Hillcrest. For people like us it's really close to home. My name is Sarah Bunney, until today I had always felt safe coming out especially in San Diego. Now it's more scary. We're not going to let fear keep us out or keep us in our homes. We are going to fight this and do it we can to show our support for our gay brothers and sisters. I'm Jen LaBarbera, I don't think we can address what happened in Orlando without just testing gunned -- discussing gun control. The violence and the bigotry that is perpetuated against Maureen Cavanaugh every day. I think that here in Hillcrest, sure it's very safe and accepting. There are still people in San Diego and in the surrounding areas that hate us for who we are. Andrew Bowen was at that vigil and he joins me in the studio. What did the crowd look like last night? It was a very big crowd. I was impressed, I heard an estimate of about 1000 people. I didn't count myself, there were a lot of people it was very diverse, and in terms of age, there were parents with small children, I said teenagers, young adults, elderly people. The sisters of perpetual indulgence, the group that dresses up in flamboyant costumes, they were there. It was a cross-section of the community. How would you describe the atmosphere, where people depressed, where the angry? With a motivated to do something? It was both solemn and political. There were people that I spoke to that said I am at the last -- loss for words. Other people were angry, the council member, Todd Gloria brought up the issue of gun control and a lot of people cheered him. We just heard a young woman talking about how we can't talk about this without bringing up gun control, the LGBT community is very active politically. There's been a lot of localization in favor of marriage equality and protection against discrimination. The question I wonder in the near future, is whether some gay rights organizations will make gun control and LGBT issue . A friend of mine at the rally was a little bit cynical, he said of the gunmen murdering kindergartners at a school in -- can't change the status quo, I can't expect this to. The consensus was there should be no backlash against the Muslim community, just because this man was apparently inspired by ISIS, everyone said and the speakers and everyone cheering them on said they would not succumb to Islamic phobia. Did you ask people if they will be nervous now? I did. I got a mixed response. Everyone said, it makes you feel less safe and yet we heard their voices just now, we can't let this -- if we stop acting the way that we've been acting, if we stay home in fear, that's letting them win. I did notice both last night and in my general anecdotal experience in my personal life, there is a generational divide, a lot of younger people are saying they could never imagine this happening to them. Some older people who may remember times when the LGBT community was far more likely to experience violence and police were less likely to protect them, they may be can see this as a realistic occurrence. Teams like this to happen and we are targets of violence. It's noteworthy, that last night was Latino night at the Pulse Nightclub. Many victims were minorities, that that speaks to this issue of this idea of intersection analogy, there's a greater risk of violence if you are of a minority group. LGBT people are targeted every single day in this country and abroad. So much so, it rarely makes national news. I've been to dozens of gay clubs around the world, for some people outside the community, it might be difficult to understand how important gay clubs are as a sanctuary. You can hold your boyfriend or girlfriend's hand, you can kiss them, you can't necessarily do that if you are just walking down the street. In all of my travels, my visits to gay clubs, it certainly has crossed my mind, how easy it would be for one single person to cause a whole lot of death and injury. One of the people he spoke with had an interesting answer when you ask them, whether gay bars are safe. That's right. His response was, are we supposed to feel safe in a movie theater, at a school, at a church? All of these places have been violated by very vicious people who want to kill. His response was, can we feel safe anywhere in a country where a person like this I know an ISIS sympathizer, known to the FBI, even convicted criminals can legally buy firearms. I've been speaking with KPBS natural reporter, Andrew Bowen. Thank you very much. Joining me now is Amber Cyphers-Stephens, chief communications officer of the San Diego LGBT community center. Welcome to the program. Is the gay community in San Diego reaching out to Orlando in any way? I know a lot of people are. Orlando center set up a Go Fund Me page and many people have been contributing directly. People who know anyone in Orlando or in the area, they are reaching out to the people they know. Over all, much of what is going on is an attempt to process what happened. To stand strong, so people know they are not alone, that we support them, we will do whatever we can to help. From the outpouring of support at the vigil last night, it seems that people are trying to stay focused and positive in San Diego's gay community. Do you foresee individuals having a lot of emotional difficulty, because of this outrage? Sure. Absolutely that can happen. We do have service is available for people who need them. Anytime something so horrifying happens, a lot of people were killed and a terrifying, appalling sort of way. That strikes home. When you add in the fact that it happened in a space that has traditionally been considered, a safe space by the LGBT community. That makes it worse. Some people will need to reach out. Will you be offering counseling? Absolutely, we offer counseling, we are doing everything we can to make sure that we have as much available as might be needed right now. On the line is Councilman Todd Gloria, welcome. You spoke at the vigil in Hillcrest last night. What was the main message? We have to be resilient of the community. To express our solidarity with Orlando and have this sort of moment of collective grief. This is a time for action. What I love about my LGBT community is that we are folks who are action oriented. If we went we would still be in the closet, we wouldn't have equality, we wouldn't have many of the rights that we burned. And -- earned. We need to draw upon that resilience to move forward and make some sense of this. You are planning to go to LA pride, did you go? I was here in San Diego, I was out with friends on Saturday night in a bar and all of us were thinking but for the grace of God go I. That's why it's so traumatic. This is where our community feel safe. In the midst of a homophobic world, this is a place we can go and be ourselves. That was torn apart, horrifically, it's very easy for any member of our local community to understand that this could happen here. Todd, Howell or will this shooting change the pride celebration in San Diego next month? It shouldn't. If it does, the bad guys have one. This morning we huddled with leaders of the LGBT community and bar owners and pride organizers, the Mayor and Chiefs Zimmerman to make sure that that's not going to happen. People can feel safe going out and about. Enjoying the freedoms that we have as Americans. That will extend through PRIDE. We always have a robust present . Security is our biggest concern. We understand that recent events require a doubling of those efforts. Amber do you agree? Would you like to see an increase in security? I think everything that council member says is correct. I think the police will do everything that they can to enjoy pride the way they normally can. Todd, we heard the police chief and the Mayor meeting with a number of gay nightclub owners today to discuss security. What things do you think can be done to increase security? We had that meeting earlier, it was an excellent meeting. My small businesses were there, sharing their concerns. They wanted to understand what their responsibilities or rights were to be able to search a bag, how can they get trained, what do they do for a mass shooting incident, how to deal with and on really patient -- unruly patron. The Police Department will follow up to provide training. We discussed a meeting between LGBT leaders and leaders from the Muslim community to make sure this terrific is not going to be allowed to marginalize any part of our community. We are safer and stronger together. Amber, to your knowledge, has a local Muslim community reached out to the LGBT center. We have a -- had a couple of people who have reached out to say, we are so sorry. We have for this violence. This is not what we believe. Our answer has been, this was an individual, he did something really horrifying, to try to condemn an entire religion for something that an individual or a very small group has done, is not helping. It just changes the target. We have no interest in fanning the flames of hatred. Of course, we are happy to talk to them. In a statement about the Orlando shooting, from Dolores from the center. It says, the LGBT community is far too familiar with violence, but hasn't felt lately, those bad days are over and what does the shooting due to change that feeling? I wish I could say that it felt like it was over. To be perfectly honest, violence against the transgender community has skyrocketed, lately. We have far too many people being killed, the business with the bathrooms is alienating people further. The LGBT community is still the victim of 20% of all hate crimes. Those statistics are skewed, it's not 20% of the population. While we'd like to say it has been getting better, at some level it has, we have marriage equality, we have writes that we didn't really think we had before, people still feel some fear. Because there are still those out there, who would rather not see things change whether it's because they're afraid or whatever it is that is fueling them, they're still lashing out. There's a rally tonight that starts at the center, Amber what is that rally going to consist of? It will open with the San Diego gay men's chorus and Dr. Jacobs will introduce Mayor Faulconer. Meredith Atkins will be speaking and Commissioner Ramirez and council member Todd Gloria, then it will close with a prayer from a Reverend. at a rabbi. We will then proceed to the pride flag in the middle of Hillcrest, there will be a performance from the gay men's chorus and the San Diego women's course. Everyone will like candles and proceed to Rich's Nightclub. That starts at 6:30 PM. I've been speaking with Amber Cyphers-Stephens. Chief communications officer of the San Diego LGBT community center. And San Diego Councilman Todd Gloria. Thank you very much. Coming up will hear from a man is a member of the LGBT community and a practicing Muslim. You are listening to KPBS Midday Edition This is KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. As people around the country try to understand whether the shooting in Orlando was inspired by religious extremism or hate , we heard from one San Diego for whom this attack kills personal. Sal Usman is a practicing Muslim and a proud member of the LGBT community. He spoke with midday edition producer Megan Burke about his reaction . As a gay person, especially with regards to bars and nightclubs, because the gay community historically has been so demonized and not accepted from the mainstream community at large, we had to seek refuge -- refuge in bars. They had to create their own families within the bars and nightclubs scene. When I was a teenager. It wouldn't, I probably wouldn't have survived if I didn't go to find a safe space, like coffee houses, just in the gay community, especially in Hillcrest. As a Muslim I feel sensitivity because the person who carried out these acts Eliza Julie professes to be a Muslim. That's difficult to process. As a mainstream Muslim I can't find any rationale to that behavior and violence. Even in a state of war Muslims are instructed not to cut down trees or harm a woman, not to harm a farmer or an old person. There's strict rules for engaging in war, especially when it's a last resort. This is just absolute insanity. It goes beyond any acceptable way of behaving. We are in the midst of our holy month of Ramadan. Which is a time of intense fasting and self reflection. Were not supposed to speak harsh words or get into arguments. That's how it's supposed to be on a regular basis, during fasting we need to be hypervigilant and hyperaware of our actions. In the mainstream Muslim community, they do a lot of outreach and interfaith work. They do homeless outreach, they do all kinds of other, they do workers rights protesting trying to help people attain their rights, unfortunately somehow historically, in the Muslim community the LG -- the LGBT community has been demonized . I think the mainstream Muslim community needs to do a lot of work to bring the communities together. That was sell Essman, interviewed by Megan Burke. So many questions remain unanswered about this deadliest mass shooting in US history. Was the shooter, Omar Mateen really affiliated with ISIS? Was he mentally ill? How will the survivors get on with their lives? David Peters, a therapist. Is joining me. People who knew Mateen described him as subject to signs of outrage. We need a lot more symptoms to say there's mental illness. We have either a mental illness or personality disorder. Or someone who's very socially marginalized. We've got stories of him as far back as high school being ill fit. Claiming he has Osama bin Laden as his uncle. Strange things like this. This is someone with a weak identity. The rage that Mateen felt when he saw two men kissing, does that say more about his personal insecurities than his religious affiliation? Your personal insecurities can be buttressed by a religious belief system that allows you to scapegoat others. He could have his own issues of masculinity upset. He had a wife that he beat, he controlled or yet she got away, her parents rescued her from him. This is someone who's feeling weak, marginalized and maybe he just needs a cover excuse. Someone to blame and the LGBT community is still someone who can be blamed. In the Muslim community's gaze are not well tolerated. His father says his son was not in a religious extremist, yet the shooter dedicated his actions to ISIS. Here's the classic need to cover your tracks to make an excuse for yourself. If he feels weak, with limited identity, he's feeling powerless. He can feel powerful by aligning himself with the bigger movement. This is someone who commits suicide by cop, but you do it on a grander scale, you align yourself with the cause bigger than yourself, now he gets at least to say he is somebody in his last day. You can't figure he thought he would find a way out after committing the shooting. He knew he was going to die. What you're describing is someone who might be able to just fly under the radar, people know that something is wrong with this guy, they don't know what. It doesn't rise to the level of intervention. It doesn't rise to the level of intervention, he's been called on it several times. The FBI investigated him two different years, wondering what he was saying and what his affiliation might be. There are millions of people in our society which represent maybe less than 1% of our society who have severe personality deficits, who feel like they are angry and bitter and want to strike back. They are the ones most able to be influenced by propaganda, politicians who want to scapegoat others, by communities who want to foster hate. You put a gun in their hand, then you have a tragedy. Let me turn our conversation towards the people who are affected. There are many people who witnessed horrors inside the Pulse Nightclub. After their wounds heal, how did they heal emotionally? It is going to take a long, long time. You have a strengthen the community right now, the LGBT community and many of their families can proclaim their equal Americans, they can be proud of themselves. There's never been a stronger time for the LGBT community , they've witnessed their friends being shot. They climbed over dead bodies, they themselves were shot. You never really get over, losing a friend and a tragic shooting. Their lives are marked forever. I do think, with proper attention and the support of the community around them and the support of the nation, we can get some healing. To that point, what are ways that the larger community can support the LGBT community? We are already beginning to see it. We see public figures coming out in support. We see city halls and state offices lit up in the rainbow colors, if they can just feel that they are recognized and loved, that they are accepted as part of us. They can feel like, we are not alone here, to the good degree, if you feel like society doesn't care than you've got a double trauma. If people in power, in communications, people in positions of leadership can reach out and show respect and care, that's as best as we can do. Then we have to look towards prevention. I've been speaking with David peters, a psychotherapist this in mission Valley. The man who entered the Pulse Nightclub and shot more than 100 people on Sunday, had been questioned by the up EI for possible terrorism links. Agent say those contacts with the Orlando shooter were inconclusive and did not lead to further investigation. Today President Obama described the shooter as a self radicalized extremist. The one thing that we can say, is that this is being treated as a terrorist investigation. It appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information, there was disseminating over the Internet. All those materials are currently being searched so we will have a better sense of the pathway that the killer took. I spoke with Eli Berman, UC San Diego professor and terrorism expert . Thank you for joining us. It's good to be with you on a tragic day. Are you concerned that after that contact with the FBI, Omar Mateen was hired as a security guard? Absolutely. That's a failure. There are number of failures here but a security company hiring someone with a background which seemed to suggest some mounted on this are instability and they didn't catch the fact that he was potentially radicalized. That's a failure. Is a failure because the FBI did not talk to local authorities? Where does that failure happen as you see it? We will know better when all of the facts are in. Certainly, it's chilling, the idea that a security company, which gives preferential access to military grade weapons, would not be successfully profiling the sky. The president said we don't know what motivated the Orlando gunman, it appears he was inspired by information online. We become more Von Miller -- vulnerable it comes back to a switch and strategy that ISIS took, going back to last summer. ISIS is mostly an organization trying to defend territory and losing it. They made the decision, perhaps the summer, they said we are going to provoke our enemies, rather than try to defend ourselves. We saw that in the attack on the tourists in Russia. We saw it in Paris. We sought -- sought in South Beirut. We saw in San Bernardino and we saw yesterday in Orlando. If that's the strategy, then yes it's true that we are vulnerable. We've defended ourselves against 9/11 type attacks by securing the airplanes and borders. There's always potential that people among us could become self radicalized. ISIS took credit, is it possible that they had no idea key even existed? Yes. It's likely. There's another way of seeing this, we don't know yet how to read it. He was recruited by ISIS and there was some communication that he was trained and sent on his way, that's unlikely. The other possibility is that we was an angry, unstable person suffering and wanted to elevate his homophobia -- homophobia into something more grandiose. What kind of government do -- what can a government do? There are number of things. One of them is see something say something. This signal applies to everybody, if you hear hate speech and someone is talking of violence, you suspect that they are assembling an arsenal, you need to say something. That would be number one. Number two is that, we need to discuss where second amendment rights stop, and the sense of how deadlier weapon are we willing to allow people access to. The AR 15 is not a hunting rifle. It's a weapon that I use myself, it's incredibly lethal. It shoots semiautomatic round after round, you can kill hundreds of people in minutes. That's number two. Number three is, we have to resist, we have to be brave and this especially goes out to the LGBT community and Orlando who have -- deserve all the sympathy we can give. They have to be who they are and we have to be who we are, you don't want a madman with the gun deterring you from going to a vigil or consoling friends and family, Americans have to feel that they have the ability to come together safely. You just outlined a three-tiered strategy. Some people are offended when a stricter gun laws becomes part of the conversation after an event like this. They say there is a political problem, political debate going on about the words read a book -- radical Islamic terrorism are used. It's a distraction, these are soundbites there was in a are 15 -- a are 15. Israel has been experiencing a wave of terrorism. The loss of life is limited, the terrorists only an app access to knives and guns. Though terrorists if they had an AAR 15 it would be much worse. After the break, the shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in the extraordinary number of college -- casualties is renewing calls for tighter gun control. Your listening to KPBS Midday Edition The deadly shooting in Orlando has again open the question about gun control in the United States. The assault rifle used was a AR-15 , the same type used in the mass shootings at the theater and Aurora, Colorado the end Sandy hook. It's known for its ability to fire as many as 100 rounds of ammunition within minutes. Police say it was purchased legally, by the shooter Omar Mateen. I spoke with an opponent of tighter restrictions and a supporter of gun control, first Michael Schwartz, executive director of the San Diego County gun owner . It's often the response of advocates that if more people were armed, mass shootings wouldn't happen. Is this your response? My response to the shooting in Orlando is that it's horrible and tragic and that are how it -- hearts and prayers and thoughts are with the victims. It's a senseless act of terrorism. It saddens me deeply. However, it's not just gun advocates, I travel all around San Diego County. I talked to all kinds of groups. The most common question I get is how do I get a concealed weapon permit. People want to protect themselves. The most effective and best way to protect yourself from violent crime is to have the right tool, which is a concealed firearm. To have the training to use it, that's not necessarily our response to the shooting, that's the interest of many, many people in San Diego, across California and the nation. How do you, you're telling us anecdotally what people are mentioning to you, knowing you are with the The San Diego Gun Owners PAC. What do you see might have stopped this mass shooting in Orlando? If anything? I think one of the most important things, that should've happened, is that the red flags that were raised by the perpetrator, the guy that committed this horrible heinous act, there were a number of red flags. His wife reported domestic violence, his coworkers reported that he was quote unquote unhinged, none of these red flags made it into the right hands. The FBI was investigating him, I'm not saying you should lose your rights because you are under investigation by the FBI What are you saying? A combination of red flags should have led to action, which is -- should've been done. A lot of people are talking about the fact that they should have restrictive gun laws. If we're not going to enforce the laws on the books that could have sought --.this already. If after a report of sympathizing with terrorism, the FBI had pursued that, which you have supported taking his guns away? I'll give you an example of something that happened in California. The murder in Santa Barbara. The college student, he was actually reported to the authorities, by his parents, they showed the Sheriff's Department evidence that this guy was mentally unstable. They had enough to put him through due process, take his firearms away, while he went to due process and he could've got them back. Most likely, he was mentally unstable and that would not have happened. Florida is a similar law, San Diego County gun owners, we represent saying, trained, law-abiding gun owners. We do not advocate for people that are mentally unstable or repeat offenders to have firearms. You are offering gun training to the LGBT community. You have reached out to offer that. Have you heard back? No. It's only been a couple of hours, since we did the press release. We've held classes for the LGBT community in the past, we've held classes for all kinds of different groups. There's a lot of interest in being able to protect yourself. We feel that it's empowering. A lot of LGBT folks yesterday were expressing fear. A lot of times it's a result of not knowing and being on prepare -- unprepared. If they were prepared and had the knowledge that would be the first step. Joining me is Ron Marcus, welcome. President Obama spoke for the sixth time in the past year, immediately following a mass shooting. The Brady campaign and the president have been working on gun control for years. Are you any closer? Yes and no. I say yes because, look at this election year, it's become a primary topic of discussion, and pastors know when we talk about it. They were afraid to. It's finally a major campaign plank and Hillary Clinton is coming out swinging. That's my yes answer. The no part, is that we are no closer to passing any kind of legislation, at all at the federal letter -- level then we were right after Sandy hook. That is amazing. The Supreme Court has ruled that gun ownership is a constitutionally protected right. How far can gun control legislation go to limit access to guns? That's an interesting question. In 2008, in the Supreme Court it was decided that people have the right to keep arms in their homes for protection, as part of their Second Amendment rights. The Second Amendment was protected in his decision, and riding his decision Judge Scalia wrote it was not without some form of regulation. In the Second Amendment itself, and it's only which states in order to have a well-regulated militia. How far should we be able to go is a very good question. I would say, I would look at as compared to other country. We have the most lax gun laws in the world. We have the most guns per capita in the world and by far the most gun violence and death by guns in the world. Those statistics tell me we probably should be going farther than we are. The Orlando shooter was hired as a security guard and he qualified for a Florida State firearms license. How would gun control legislation have affected his ability to acquire weapons? First, Florida has some of the more lax rules in the country, it's easier to get a gun in Florida. It's interesting in a whole other conversation as to how he passed by those FBI checks. If we had universal federal laws, one of the problems with gun laws in individual states, no matter how good they are is that someone can go to a neighboring state that doesn't have strict rules and get their guns there and come back or sell them and come back. I think if we have a federal set of rules and we have cooperation among the state, we can go a long ways towards preventing this kind of thing. We had one of the shootings in California in San Bernardino, we have one of the strictest, Titus gun control laws in the United States again, heart is gun control prevent that kind of a shooting? Here's the thing, we can go to neighboring Nevada or Arizona and put your guns that we wouldn't be able to pass checks for California. That's still a problem. Gun control, as it's being called or gun violence prevention as we call it, cannot and will not prevent every single possibility of a shooting. No law can. Just because we can't guarantee prevention of every possible shooting doesn't mean we shouldn't try to save at least one life, if one more person can come home to their loved ones or if we can prevent one family, just one family from having to go to a funeral of one of their wallet -- loved ones that's worth it. Just because we can't prevent all doesn't mean we shouldn't try to prevent some. If you look at child safety for toys or safety and cars and the litany of red -- regulations that we've passed, we are not even close in terms of guns, which are very lethal. You mentioned the presidential race and the fact that this has become an issue in this election. President Obama has been a very, very emotional and deeply felt spokesman for this issue. Why hasn't he been able to do anything? There are limits to what a president can do with executive action. We are facing a tough Congress, that is in causa Trent, in causa Trent -- the NRA continues to have outsize voice and it's been one of the big disappointments of his presidency that he could not move the needle on the issue. It's just a shame. I applaud Hillary Clinton for taking this mantle and making it a major plank. We need that kind of voice. Thank you. I spoke with Ron Marcus, spokesman for the Brady campaign and before that with Michael Schwartz, executive director of the The San Diego Gun Owners PAC. Be sure to watch KPBS evening edition at 5 and at six that 30 -- 6:30 PM. Join us tomorrow for KPBS Midday Edition at noon. If you do ever miss a show check out the midday edition podcast at If you do ever miss a show check out the midday edition podcast@KPBS.org. I'm Maureen Cavanaugh, thank you for listening.