A pride celebration planned for tonight in Hartford will go on, but there will be an extra police presence at the event after the tragic shooting in an Orlando nightclub that was created as a safe haven for the city’s gay community.
Tonight is the June Creative Cocktail Hour at Real Art Ways. Members of the arts organization and Hartford Capital City Pride have been planning it for months to celebrate the beginning of summer and celebrate pride, then the horrific events happened on Sunday morning.
A gunman went into Pulse and shot several people early Sunday morning, killing 49.
In the shock and sadness, organizers of the Hartford event talked about what to do and decided to go ahead with the event.
“We’ve talked about what to do this Thursday, and we’ve decided we will continue to celebrate pride, and we will stand together to reaffirm our support and love,” a statement on the Real Art Ways website says. “The LGBTQ community is beloved; we are families, friends, colleagues and neighbors. We are proud. And we are together.”
The event starts at 6 p.m. and there will be a moment of reflection at 7:30 p.m.
