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AN EDITION OF THE IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE // MYMERIDIANPRESS.COM // 06.17.16
Local gay community on alert following Orlando shooting
Photos by Dean Ferguson
A crowd gathers for a vigil on the Idaho Capitol steps Sunday in honor of the Orlando shooting victims.
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helsea Gaona Lincoln said that as a gay woman, there is some apprehension even living in Caldwell, thinking twice before holding her fiancee’s hand at the grocery store. Gaona Lincoln is openly gay and is engaged to a woman. The couple plans to marry in three months. “We’ve gotten looks before,” she said about being in public with her fiancee. “But I feel safe in my community and I feel like I know my community. There are looks of disgust, (but) for the most part, I feel safe. There are times when you self-consciously second-guess standing too close or holding hands.” Gaona Lincoln said the affection is of “gesture of love” and she is proud of her partner. As the nation grieves following the deadliest mass shooting in the country’s modern history, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community remains united,
by Idaho Press-Tribune & Meridian Press staff
news@mymeridianpress.com
urging support rather than hate. Fear and sadness remain prominent among locals after the early morning Sunday shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub that left 49 people dead and 53 others injured. With the initial shock of the shooting, Gaona Lincoln said there was fear in the community, especially with the Boise Pride event this week. Gaona Lincoln is chairwoman of Add The Words Idaho, an advocacy group for LGBT rights in Idaho. She attended a vigil in Boise on Sunday evening in remembrance of the Orlando victims. Following the Orlando shooting, she said, “It’s important that (everyone) extends to each other love and respect.” “Together, we are far more resilient,” she said about the com-
munity. “Whether that’s someone who is a member of the LGBT community, or an ally, we really are all in this together.” Before the shooting in Orlando, the local LGBT community in the Treasure Valley felt relatively safe, Interfaith Alliance President Judy Cross said. Now, people are shocked and frightened, she said. A gay employee at a local store on Sunday broke down when he saw the rainbow ribbon pinned to Cross’ shirt, she said. “He leaned over, hugged me and started bawling,” she said. “He said, ‘I’m so scared. I have never been more scared in my life. ... I’m afraid to go out. My mom is afraid for me to be anywhere in public.’” Cross, who is on the Boise Pride planning committee, said organizers have been working closely with Boise Police and Idaho State Police to ensure security. “We’ve had great responses from the police departments,”
she said. Van Beechler, Gaona Lincoln’s fiancee, said the fear of being discriminated against is only more validated by the Orlando shooting. “This is an everyday fear for people,” Beechler said about the LGBT community. “In Idaho, for
example, we are not a protected class.” Beechler noted that in the Idaho Human Rights Act, people are not protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation or sexual identity.
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