CHICAGO — A somber mood struck Chicago's Boystown neighborhood as the city absorbed news that a mass shooting left at least 50 people dead and another 53 people wounded at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning.
By 11 a.m., hours after news broke of the deadliest mass shooting in American history, a rainbow flag and sign were taped to a sign post at the intersection of Halsted Street and Roscoe Street.
Roscoe & Halsted. #Boystown #Chicago #Orlando #Pulse pic.twitter.com/lNprDIzoh0
— Alex Nitkin (@AlexNitkin) June 12, 2016
Passing the makeshift memorial on their way to a late brunch, Juan Casado and his friends stopped to take pictures.
Casado lived in Orlando, he said, before coming out as openly gay and moving to Chicago last August.
"My mom called me crying first thing this morning, saying she needed to hear my voice," Casado said. "That was the first I heard of it. People have been blowing up my phone since then."
Casado had been to Pulse, the nightclub where the shooting happened, he said. He compared it to Hydrate, 3458 N. Halsted Street, describing it as a lively and frenetic nightclub welcoming to people of all stripes.
"This is so upsetting, and it opens my eyes, because it could have happened to me. It could have happened when I was there," he added.
At Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., one of the city's largest and most prominent LGBT community centers, volunteers met to share their shock and grief.
"It's jarring — it really rocks the sense of complacency and safety a lot of us have come to expect, and it shows that the LGBT community's work is not done in this country," Center on Halsted spokesman Peter Johnson told DNAinfo.
Night clubs like Pulse, Johnson added, "are there for the same reason LGBT centers like this exist: to bring people together and build a space for empowerment."
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones," Center on Halsted CEO, Modesto Tico Valle, said in a statement. "As LGBTQ people, let's harness our sadness and outrage over the continual hateful acts of violence that target our community to create substantive change. Our movement is far from over - we must mobilize with LGBTQ people and allies across this country to end discrimination in all forms and create a society that values full equality" he said.
Members of the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network, meanwhile, released a statement warning against the spread of Islamophobia as the world learns more about the perpetrator of the attack.
"To use this tragedy to promote Trump-like behavior would be despicable It is a race to the bottom, branding all people in a group, regardless of character, as the enemy," the statement reads. "As LGBTs we have recently won so many rights...and so it would be unworthy of us to become haters towards any other group of people."
Mayor Rahm Emanuel also released a statement decrying what he called a "horrifying act of terrorism."
"June is a time when all Chicagoans and all Americans proudly celebrate the contributions of our LGBT community," Emanuel said, according to the statement. "This horrendous violence will only deepen our resolve to continue building a society that values everyone, regardless of who they love."
In their own release, Chicago Police called the shooting "another reprehensible act of gun violence." Police called their Orlando counterparts to offer "any technical, manpower or resource assistance," according to the release.
Center on Halsted is planning a vigil for Monday night, Johnson said.
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