Central Oregon LGBT groups urge community to stand together

Many in the Central Oregon LGBT community awoke Sunday to news of a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Florida.

“It was earth-shattering. It was absolutely earth-shattering,” said Cait Boyce, the president of PFLAG.

The attack has made Paige Matthews, festival director of Central Oregon Pride, question just how far the gay rights movement has really come.

“It’s interesting, because we keep bragging about all this progress that we’ve been making, and it seems like all the violence has been an education piece of our past, and for it to be in our present, it’s a little confusing,” she said.

The news was heartbreaking for many, but also eyeopening for some.

“There feels like a fine line. We don’t want to just go into activism right away, because we need to give our community that time to take a breath and grieve. And then once we do, I think it’s just a reminder that there’s still forward motion that needs to be done,” Matthews said.

She and others said being silent is no longer an option.

“So for every LGBTQQ member sitting at home right now, too afraid to say anything, or do anything, or tweet anything, or post anything, get off your butt and do it, because lives really are at risk,” Boyce said.

Less than two weeks will pass between the shooting and Central Oregon Pride on Saturday, June 25.

“I would like to say that I didn’t feel unsafe, but I don’t think that’s actually true,” Matthews said. “But what I would say is that whether or not we feel safe isn’t as relevant as whether or not we show up,” Mathews said.