Orlando shootings hit home with Myrtle Beach area LGBT group

Crystal Webb had been to Pulse nightclub numerous times.

“I knew about six people who were there at the club and I knew two who passed away,” said Webb, who lived in Orlando while pursuing a career as a body-builder.

One was her friend Kimberly Morris, a bouncer who was one of the 49 people killed during the Sunday morning attack on the predominately gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

“I didn’t hear until 11:30 last night that Kimberly had passed,” she said. “I’ve been there numerous times. When they were talking about how they escaped, I could picture it. I knew where they had been; the patio, the dance floors. And it made it even worse because I could visualize it. It was very difficult yesterday waiting all day long just to hear from people.”

Webb was one of the last people to speak at the Monday night vigil held at the Hilton Garden Inn at the Costal Grand Strand Mall in Myrtle Beach. The vigil, attended by more than 75 people, ended with a prayer and 49 seconds of silence in honor of the 49 people who lost their lives.

The gathering was organized by Terry Livingston, executive director of Takeover Grand Strand, an LGBT advocacy group in Myrtle Beach.

“We’re having a vigil to just simply remember the 49 people whose lives were cut short just yesterday morning,” he said. “It was a complete shock to the LGBT community here and other people as well.”

Livingston said the attack was a “horrific hate act” against the LGBT community as a whole.

“Tonight we want to gather the local LGBT community and just support each other and hopefully at the end of the night we’ll have achieved the mission of feeling more love than hate,” he said. “We simply want to show that we can gather, we can bounce back and simply that love will conquer hate.”

Not everyone in attendance was part of the LGBTQ community.

Pastor Joseph Washington of Hope Church in Myrtle Beach said he was there because inclusiveness is a core value of his church.

“I came because I thought I should be here to coalesce with my brothers and sisters from the LGBTQ community,” he said. “I think that it’s important that they understand that there are people who are straight who support them and who unconditionally love them.”

Washington said several members of his church are gay and he wanted to share his own grief and pain over the tragedy.

“I’m angry, I’m upset,” he said. “But I know that we need to be together and try to heal.”

This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Orlando shootings hit home with Myrtle Beach area LGBT group ."