A vigil was held Monday night in Salt Lake City in remembrance of the victim's of the Orlando Shooting. Troy Williams is the executive director for Equality Utah, an LGBTQ rights group that hosted the event.
He said he was initially shocked to hear about the Orlando shooting.
“And then the horror that you start to realize, ‘Oh, wait a minute, this shooting is directed at my community,’” he said. “And then there’s this horror [that] starts to settle deep into your skin and your bones and you realize that you could be a target next.”
Williams said many politicians are politicizing the mass shooting for their political gain.
“We are going to reject any call to turn us against each other,” he said. “We will not do it. We will come together: Muslims, Christians, Mormons, Atheists, Latinos and African Americans. We are one human family and we will not be divided.”
People from all backgrounds can be gay, which Williams said is something that unites cultures, races, groups and religions.
“We are in a unique position to reach out to various different cultures that are historically divided that say let us come together and be one human family,” he said.
He said it is most important to focus on the things we all have in common rather than being divided when it comes to politics and religion.
“Historically we’ve seen religion being pitted against the gay and lesbian community,” he said. “But people of faith know what it is like. In this state, people know what it’s like to be persecuted because you’re different and our Mormon ancestors were driven by hate crimes across this country and to found this state. We ought to begin focusing on the things that we have in common.”