Vigil to be held at Puzzles Lounge, 426 North Front St., New
Bedford,
MA
7 PM Thursday, Feb. 2, 2006
A vigil will be held at Puzzles Lounge, the site of an anti gay
assault early this morning. The unprovoked attack by a single individual
wielding a knife and a gun left three men seriously injured with
face, head and chest wounds.
The Marriage Equality Coalition of the SouthCoast, in conjunction
with other community and religious groups, is organizing the vigil to
protest not just this horrendous hate crime, but violence of any
kind in our community.
The ongoing campaign to deny gay men and lesbians the right to marry
has resulted in the portrayal of the gay community as "less than
equal" by some, and has included hateful, bigoted rhetoric. When groups of
people are characterized as "second class", they then can more
easily become targets of others' rage and anger.
We deplore violence of any kind in our community. Gay men and
lesbians deserve to live their lives peacefully and securely, without being
targeted solely because of their sexual orientation.
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