Flags at Half-Mast

I live in a fairly conservative, blue collar town. This is the kind of town where people wear Guns N’ Roses T-shirts and sport mullets, and they aren’t being ironic. (Tonawanda, NY, in case you’re wondering.)

Today and yesterday, all the flags in my town were flying at half-mast. At City Hall. At the grocery store. At the elementary school.

I’m sickened and horrified by the recent shooting in Orlando, and words seem like such a poor defense against hatred, ignorance, and blind, bloody violence.

But I’m heartened to see the flags in my blue collar, New York town flying at half-mast. That symbol, more than anything else I’ve seen or read, shows that an attack on the LGBT community is an attack on all Americans, and on our values of freedom and diversity.

Orlando, you’re not alone.