Local churches and an organization representing the local LGBT community are asking Columbus residents to remember the Orlando shooting victims during a local candlelight vigil.
First Presbyterian Church and Pride Alliance are sponsoring the vigil at 7 p.m. Tuesday, hosted by First United Methodist Church, 618 Eighth St.
Following Sunday morning’s fatal shootings in Florida, Ian Kohen, chairman of Columbus’ Human Rights Commission, sent out an email to the commission and other human rights groups in the city asking them to attend the vigil in solidarity.
“Now is the time for people of all backgrounds to unite. We have all been the targets before at one time or another. It has to stop,” Kohen wrote to local group representatives.
The indoor location at the church isn’t for security reasons, as was the case Sunday night in the Indiana Pride Alliance Network candlelight vigil at the Murat Egyptian Room in Indianapolis, an organizer said Monday.
The Columbus vigil will be conducted indoors because of the hot, humid conditions that have been forecast, said Rachael Spadone, who serves on the local Pride Alliance’s board of directors and is organizing the vigil.
Spadone began working on the tribute Sunday after reading about other events honoring the Orlando victims on social media and learning more about what the Indiana Pride Alliance did that night.
For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Republic.
