An emotional vigil to remember those who were massacred at a gay night club in Orlando was held at an Aberdeen church yesterday.
A diverse crowd of more than 100 mourners from a variety of different faiths and backgrounds attended the service at Queen’s Cross Church, led by the Rev Scott Rennie.
In the early hours of last Sunday morning, gunman Omar Mateen entered the Florida venue Pulse and killed 49 people.
To honour the victims of the horrific incident, yesterday’s ceremony was held out in the open as a public show of solidarity against hatred of all kinds.
As well as moments of prayer, candle lighting and songs, the church handed out a rainbow of 49 balloons to those in attendance to be released into the sky, each one representing a life lost in the tragedy.
And a final balloon was handed to Aberdeen South MP Callum McCaig in memory of Jo Cox, who was murdered in broad daylight on Thursday afternoon outside of her constituency surgery.
Mr Rennie said at the vigil: “We are here today to stand against all hate crimes in our community and in our world.
“At the root of all of these deaths was hatred, and those people who were killed in Orlando last week were targeted for who they loved in their lives and because of their sexuality, because they were lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
“This is a sharp reminder to all of us of how much residual homophobia can still be found within our towns and our cities, even though so much progress has been made to banish prejudice and homophobia, it remains a major problem in parts of our society.”
Mr McCaig said: “It was a good opportunity for folk in Aberdeen to come together and reflect upon the events of the last week or so, and also to think of the future and to generate hope for the future of humanity, despite all that’s going on these days.”
North-east MSP Lewis Macdonald said: “By linking these two incidents together, which happened on both sides of the Atlantic in completely different circumstances, we have made the point that crimes of hate are the same no matter who they are against and wherever they are, and they must be stopped at all costs.”
