A van collides with a gay pride in Florida: one person is dead
Sylvie Claire / June 20, 2021
The driver of a pickup truck struck several people gathered for a gay pride parade Saturday in Florida, killing one man and injuring another, U.S. authorities said.
The incident occurred at the start of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer) parade in the town of Wilton Manors (Florida, southeast), near Fort Lauderdale.
While the van appeared to be part of the procession, it was unclear whether it was an accident or a deliberate act by the van driver, who was arrested and taken into custody.
The white van had lined up with the floats participating in the parade, but accelerated and hit several pedestrians, before crashing into a nursery, Local 10 News reported.
Two men were transported to a medical center where one died, said Ali Adamson, a police detective.
The driver and victims are all members of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus, according to a statement from the group's president, Justin Knight. Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this unfortunate accident that occurred as the Stonewall Pride Parade had just begun, he said in a statement.
This is a terrorist attack on the LGBT community, Trantalis said.That's exactly what it is. Not really an accident. It was deliberate, it was premeditated, and it was targeted against a specific person. Fortunately, they missed that person but unfortunately they hit two other people.
Wasserman Schultz said on Twitter that she was heartbroken by the incident. I am deeply shaken and devastated that a life was lost, she said.
While the parade was cancelled due to a tragic event, other festival events continued, according to local police.
June is Gay Pride Month, which commemorates the Stonewall riots, a bar in New York's Greenwich Village where, in June 1969, riots broke out between police and gays angered by the repression of their community.
These events were to energize the gay rights movement and give birth in June 1970 to the first New York Gay Pride.