Hillary Clinton has shown a moving display of support for the LGBT community.
The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate met today with Orlando community leaders, friends, and family members of victims of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub, which claimed 49 lives of predominantly LGBT and Latino people on June 12.
"We need to acknowledge and be very clear who this attack targeted: The Latino LGBT community," Clinton said, in remarks reported on by the Orlando Sentinel. "What does that mean? Well among other things, it means that it is still dangerous to be LGBT in America."
Later in the discussion, Clinton said it was an "unfortunate fact" that members of the LGBT community "are more likely than any other group in our country to be the targets of hate crimes." Pulse was a popular LGBT bar in Orlando, and the shooting occurred on the club's weekly Latin night.
In a meeting at the Holden Heights Community Center, which was closed to the public, Clinton pledged to advocate for change at every level of government, in order to "promote the kinds of changes that will prevent this from happening to other people, other families, and other communities." She cited to a ban on assault weapons and "sensible gun reform" as among these changes.
Afterward, Clinton left flowers at a memorial at the Pulse nightclub and met with first responders. The candidate is expected to announce her choice of vice president later in the day.
On Thursday night, the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, also declared how "the terrorist targeted LGBTQ community. No good. And we're going to stop it." He added, "I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology."
The statement shocked many LGBT people, who noted on social media how the current GOP platform is the most anti-LGBT in the party's history. Trump has yet to visit Orlando in the wake of the shooting.
