‘The example that we need’: U.S. attorney general praises LGBT response to Orlando
The attorney general of the United States praised the response of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans in the wake of the Sunday terrorist attack on an Orlando nightclub.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch also offered a powerful message, addressed to a community whose sense of safety was devastated by the massacre: “We support you.”
“We stand with you and, in the aftermath of this horrific attack, we have been inspired by you. We have been inspired by your coming together in resilience, coming together in strength, coming together in love,” she said, explicitly directing her remarks to the LGBT community during an unexpected appearance Tuesday afternoon at the White House United State of Women Summit in Washington, D.C., which had not listed her as a scheduled speaker.
“You are giving all of us the example that we need to rebuild our sense of safety, to rebuild our sense of community, to vow to never to let fear to take hold. And we honor you for that,” Lynch said.
“Now this is not an easy task, particularly in light of such pain and such loss, particularly in the aftermath of an attack like this that shakes our sense of self, that shakes our understanding of our own safety, that has the potential to make us doubt who we are and can make us wonder what we can truly accomplish,” she continued.
Lynch at once counseled against despair and sought to provide reassurance. “It can be so tempting to give in to cynicism and despair. It can be so easy to believe that our progress has been an illusion. That one step forward can always be met with two steps back,” she said.
“But I want us to remember, to remember and hold onto this: The victims of this attack were living in an America that had newly recognized their fundamental right to marry. They were living in a country that had draped the White House in a rainbow flag. They were living in a world where the highest court in our land had declared that love is love. And remember this, and know this, and hold onto this: We are still that country. That is still us.”
She also insisted that the LGBT community that was attacked had a right to be remembered in coverage of the attack and the United States’ response. “As we focus on our response to this terrorist attack — and we will respond — let us never lose sight of who the victims were. Let us never lose sight of them. Because it is for them that we fight, and that we move, and that we investigate. … As President Obama has said, this it was an act of terror and it was an act of hate,” Lynch said.
“As we all try, as we always do, to make some sense, to find some reason in an inherently senseless act, I want our LGBT friends and neighbors and family members to know this: that we support you,” she continued.
Movements for progress are never without opposition, she reminded. “Every movement indeed has faced opposition, has faced threats, has faced violence and fear. But we will persevere,” she said.
“And let us declare,” she said, “that far from dividing us as terrorism aims to do, let us show the world that this attack, this attack has brought us together in support. It has brought us together in solidarity. It has brought us together in love.”
Lynch also pledged the full resources at her command to the investigation of the attack, which left 49 victims dead. “I want you to know that the Department of Justice — I and all of my colleagues the FBI, the ATF, our national security division, our U.S. attorney’s office in Florida, our state and local partners — are doing everything that we can to investigate this appalling crime. And we will bring all resources to bear — everything we have — to this investigation.”
And she emphasized that even as the United States in the weeks ahead has to have “hard discussions” about “gun laws that allow an individual to legally purchase weapons that facilitate vast killings,” people will need to “push back on the voices that prey on fear and that sow division.”
“Most of all, we have to stand up,” she said. “We have to stand up against hate. We have to stand up for love.”
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