About 100 members of the Princeton community turned out for a candlelight vigil at Blair Arch to remember the victims of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
Attendees lit candles to commemorate the victims; 49 were given tea lights to place on the ground as the names of those who died were read aloud.
Brian Herrera, an assistant professor of theater who identifies as Latino and gay, said the Pulse shooting has deeply affected many members of the LGBTQ community.
“There’s this feeling, especially as a queer person, when you are just [going about] your day … and you are suddenly yanked out of that fullness of yourself into a state of hyper-vigilance that something might be about to go wrong,” he said.
The Thursday night vigil followed an informal gathering Sunday night in front of Firestone Library in solidarity with the victims. The Latinx Graduate Student Association also is organizing a dance June 17 at the D-Bar in the Graduate College to commemorate the lives lost.
“We’re doing the best we can as a community gathered in solidarity to sustain each other in peace, and love, and Pulse,” Herrera said.