Hundreds show support for shooting victims at downtown Iowa City vigil

IOWA CITY - As 7-month-old Journey bounced on her wife's lap, Crystal West was saddened by the thought of the kind of world their daughter would grow up in.

Crystal and Kristina West, like hundreds of others, gathered Monday night on downtown Iowa City's Pedestrian Mall for a vigil honoring victims of Sunday mornings's mass shooting in Orlando. A gunman pledging allegiance to Islamic State terrorists stormed early Sunday into Pulse, an Orlando gay nightclub, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others in the deadliest mass shooting in American history.

The Women's Resource and Action Center in Iowa City planned the three-hour event. Speakers, including activists and members of the lesbian, gay and transgender community, spoke to honor the victims or voice concerns about safety in the community to a crowd holding candles and standing under rainbow flags and umbrellas.

The Wests, of Iowa City, said they wanted to attend to show support for the LGBT community through some of its challenges.

'I just don't think that people understand that our families are the same as everyone else's,” Crystal West said.

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At the vigil, Taylor Corrigan held a candle that read '#proud,” despite it burning the bottom of her hand.

As she and her girlfriend, Miranda Gehris, who held a matching candle that said 'not afraid,” gathered to show support for the LGBT community because Gehris said events like this can cause community members to feel very isolated.

Corrigan and Gehris, who have been together for three years and live in Iowa City, said it's a tradition to attend the pride festival in Des Moines each year. But this year, they thought twice about attending weekend events there after hearing the news of the shooting.

They said they felt excited about celebrating pride, but were mourning and angry over the Orlando shooting.

'It was a lot of weird mixed emotions,” Corrigan said. 'We've just always gone to pride. It just felt like something we still needed to do despite what happened.”

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Michael Shaw watched as his 3-year-old son held a candle at the vigil and handed out flowers.

Shaw, of Iowa City, who attended the vigil as an LGBT ally, had the chance to reflect on the shooting. He said after learning that it was almost 50 victims who died, the story became personal to him.

'It's important for us to recognized that all oppression is our oppression,” he said.

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'Hate has caused a lot of problems but it has not solved one yet” was written on the back of a rainbow flag that wrapped around Nichole Kaltenbach, of Cedar Rapids, and her wife at the vigil.

The couple said they initially were worried to attend because sometimes members of the LGBT community have to worry about their safety. They ultimately decided to attend.

'It helps people who maybe live in fear know that they have support and have people that are going to stand up for their rights,” Kaltenbach said. 'It's a symbol of the strength that we have to know that these things can happen but still come out and take a stand against it.”