Monday was seven years since the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando where 49 people were killed.
People at the Castro in San Francisco organized a memorial and asked the public to take action to prevent future violence against the LGBTQ community.
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WATCH HEREJames Ward says came of age in Orlando, and in 2009, Pulse was the place he found safety and community.
“Pulse was my first club, I was a young drag queen and it was the first place that I got to go out in drag, the first place I performed in drag,” he said.
Now, on the seventh anniversary of the shooting, which took the life of one of his close friends, he feels that the places he once felt most safe at -- gay clubs and bars like Pulse -- are now the places he feels most in danger.
“I get nervous if there are balloons in the bars, because if balloons pop on the dance floor it terrifies me,” said Ward.
LGBTQ community leaders and activists at the Castro echoed Ward’s concerns.
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Several San Francisco district supervisors, and state Senator Scott Weiner, shared words of support.
Christopher Vasquez, director of communications for the National Center for Lesbian Rights said, “We have to make sure we're honoring the 49 people we lost with action.”
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SIGN UP Vasquez, an Orlando native who frequented Pulse in the early 2000s, noted that LGBTQ nonprofits need financial support and charitable giving more than ever. He also wants to see more Californians and state leaders push back on out of state governments where trans and queer rights are under attack.
“State legislatures are coming at us on an unseen number of attacks, on all of our rights,” he said. “Now is the time for states like California to say 'we're not going to let our fellow Americans or LGBTQ humans deal with that right now.”
