El Paso leaders stand with LGBT+ community, send message to those who “wish to divide”

Local leaders held a news conference outside the El Paso County Courthouse Sunday afternoon to show their solidarity with the victims of the massacre in Orlando.

Overnight, a gunman wielding a rifle and a handgun opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub, killing at least 50 people before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. It was the deadliest mass shooting in American history.

Sunday, the FBI acknowledged its agents twice investigated the alleged gunman, Omar Mateen.

In between 2013 and 2014, agents investigated Mateen after he made inflammatory comments to co-workers alleging possible ties to terrorists. Mateen was interviewed twice and, when investigators were unable to verify the details of his comments, the FBI closed the probe.

Reports indicate Mateen called 911 before Sunday morning’s shooting to pledge his allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group.

During Sunday’s news conference in Downtown El Paso, local leaders like Rep. Beto O’Rourke, (D) El Paso, praised the Sun City’s history of shattering racial, gender and social-economic barriers.

The congressman specifically praised the work of El Paso City Council to extend health care benefits to the same-sex partners of city employees, a decision that cost El Paso City Rep. Steve Ortega his seat.

“We are standing here in solidarity with Orlando and anyone who feels persecuted,” Rep. O’Rourke said. “It’s never easy, but it’s always important to define ourselves by our ability to include everyone. To treat all people, everyone in this community and everyone in this country with respect and dignity and to stand against those who see others with hatred, who try to terrorize communities like Orlando.”

O’Rourke said he is proud of El Paso’s acceptance of the LGBT community and hopes we can set an example for the rest of the world.

“El Paso is an incredible community, built not because of divisions, but in spite of divisions,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said.

Escobar told those present at Sunday’s news conference the massacre at the Fuse nightclub was not just an attack on Orlando and its LGBT+ community, it was an attack on our nation. “It’s very easy to be flooded by feelings of anger or to be overwhelmed by our pain,” Escobar said, “What we can do is what we’re doing here today: we are coming together with our brothers and sisters in Orlando. We are united with the LGBT community as it moves forward.”

Escobar went on to say, “we are all one people and the community of El Paso, more than any other community in the nation, understand this and we are ready to stand side-by-side with our brothers and sisters ready to continue in love, in hope and in peace.”

State Senator Jose Rodriguez, (D) El Paso, had harsher words for those who wish to divide our country. “There are those people out there at the state level who are homophobic, who are Islamophobic, who have all kinds of phobias, people who don’t respect other human beings just because they are different.”

Rodriguez did not shy away from the heated debate over 2nd Amendment gun rights. “Unfortunately, what we have seen again is a gun policy that allows people to use assault weapons in mass shootings indiscriminately and yet there are those who still insist that our second amendment rights allow us to carry military style weapons. This is an issue that we have to deal with.”

State Representative Joe Moody, (D) District 78, echoed Rodriguez’s sentiments. “We have presidential candidates spreading hate of all variety every day, men from this very state who share the stage with religious leaders who literally call for the death of LGBT Americans, Texas leaders who respond to a massacre like this with tweets about God’s punishment, a major party nominee who angrily demeans everyone and everything around him while asking us to put him in the White House.”

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is being criticized for tweeting a verse from the Bible just a few hours after 50 people were killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Patrick tweeted a photo with the verse from Galatians 6:7.

It states, “Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

The Lt. Governor has since removed the Tweet and replaced it with a message stating the Tweet was not in response to last night’s shooting, it was scheduled last Thursday.

Moody said his words weren’t just referring to Republicans. “There are plenty of Democrats who have the same attitudes and plenty more who don’t have the political backbone to stand against those who do.”

El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles, a Democrat, said there is no checklist to keep Americans safe in times like these. He did say it’s important to keep two things in mind when out in public. “Number one, always be vigilant of your surroundings, always look and see what’s going on, if you things unusual take note of them, pay attention,” Wiles said, “And secondly, whenever you go into a public venue, you should always look for ways out, for the exit.”

Wiles passed on advice he received when he was training to become a police officer. “Always expect the worst and know what you are going to before it happens,” the sheriff said, “I hate to make people paranoid, but it is something we should pay attention to.”

Wiles reassured those at the news conference El Paso’s law enforcement agencies are prepared to deal with mass shooting although he hopes we never have to deal with a mass shooting.

Wiles told ABC-7’s Jamie Warren he spoke with the FBI and was reassured there are no threats to El Paso. Earlier Sunday, an El Paso police spokesman said he was unaware of threats targeting the LGBT+ community in El Paso.