Metro Weekly

Orlando’s openly gay commissioner: “Thugs and murderers” won’t break LGBT community

Patty Sheehan, first LGBT official in Orlando, had powerful message

Patty Sheehan, Credit: City of Orlando
Patty Sheehan, Credit: City of Orlando

“You’re nothing but thugs and murderers and we will show you that we are a better community and a better America than this.”

–City of Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan, the first LGBT person elected in the city, speaking at a press conference in the wake of at least 50 people killed in a mass shooting at an LGBT nightclub.

Sheehan, in an emotional speech, vowed that the LGBT community — and the city of Orlando — wouldn’t be broken by the attacks.

“If you think you’re stabbing at the heart of this community with these horrible, violent acts, you’re not,” she said. “We are a resilient people, we’re going to show you in the face of this that we’re going to have people lined out behind those blood banks. We’re going to show what the good heart of humanity is, not the bad, horrible part of it is.”

“You cannot get your message across by killing people,” she added.

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