Sunday, May 19, 2013

Vigil for Mark Carson

At midnight last night in Greenwich Village a candlelight vigil was held for Mark Carson, the gay man who was shot in the head and killed this weekend by a man shouting homophobic slurs.

Photographer Stacy Walsh Rosenstock shares photos of the vigil:





View all of Stacy's photos here.

There will be a march and rally tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. beginning at the LGBT Community Center, 208 W 13th Street, and proceeding to West 8th Street and 6th Avenue.

7 comments:

Srosenstock said...

A very very sad event. Lots of tears, anger frustration. My guess is that well over 500 people, gay and straight, attended. There were people from Act-Up, Queer Rising, parents with gay children and concerned people from the community who were shocked by the horror. It's hard to believe this kind of hateful gun violence still exists. One question I've heard several times is, if St Vincents was still there, only two blocks away from the site of this tragic event, might Mr. Carson still be with us? So many things are connected.

Anonymous said...

So sad is the loss of this young mans life that no words can express the sorrow. The Police at the 6th Pct responded quickly and did a great job in apprehending the doer. Sad is that there is a posibility that Mr Carson could still be with us but the extended ambulance times arriving and going to Beth Israel when SVH was a mear 3 block away. Thank political greed for the hospital loss. K

laura said...

correct me if i am wrong: @ one time this never happened in NYC? i remember no incidents reported untill 10 yrs ago. someone was attacked i think killed on 1st ave near 14st. (also others). is NY turning into missisippi? i thought it was one of the only gay safe large cities in the US? besides boston/san fran. if a gay cant walk in ghe village, where can they go? i remember gay men in 1960 in washington square.

laura said...

i read this is the 22nd violent incident in NY this year, directed towards gays. i can understand this if gays paraded around small town USA uninvited, & provoked. but the village has been a gay area for 100 yrs. people are going there especially to kill or attack gays? as i straight person i dont agree w/most of the modern gay political agenda, i think they are going about it in the wrong way. they dont choose their battles/words carefully. i wonder if this is a backlash by the ignorant & the mentally unstable? the violence against women has increased in the USA as well, especially on college campuses. (the 3rd world countries are not included in this assessment). i dont agree w/much of the feminist agendas either, & predicted what has occurred. still, theres something very creepy about purposely going the NY, & hunting down gay men.

Anonymous said...

Laura:

Anti-gay incidents always happened in NYC. Just not as much in Manhattan. Back in the '80s there was gay bashing - a.k.a "fag bashing" as some strange guys used to call it back in the day. Lots of hip hop homeboys and skinheads took part in that crap.

The saddest part some that took part in these gay bashings were gay themselves. Only they were "in the closet." I know because someone once admitted he used to take part of this behavior before he outed himself.

Anyway...NYC had the appearance of being open minded. Yet in many areas of the outer boroughs it wasn't the case. Certain neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn and Bronx were VERY conservative. Let's not even go into parts of Staten Island. If you were anything out of the norm, you were a target. Didn't matter if you were a "freak" or heavens forbid - gasp - gay. Therefore you were a target. In some outer borough areas, you put yourself at risk by even leaving the house. And THAT was why for years and years Greenwich Village was a mecca for the "misfits." The ones who weren't even welcome in their own neighborhoods. So these misfits fled and hung out down on West 8th street, St. Mark's Place and of course, Christopher Street.

The entire Village area has now been whitewashed to appeal to the Giuliani/Bloomberg ilk and trust fund babies coming in from suburbia. In fact, West 8th street now feels like an outdoor dead shopping mall strip.

While I agree with you somewhat Laura about being some kind of political backlash. There's some of the modern gay political agenda I don't always agree with either. However there's always been gay bashing in NYC. Just not as overtly reported in the mainstream local media.

Besides, with any political group, left or right, some do not chose their words carefully. But that's political folks for you. Many of them, no matter what side are always going to be full of shit.

It does disturb me to hear that violence against women has increased.

In all, no one should be subjected to being hunted down like a wild animal, just because of his/her sexual orientation. Cruelty at its finest. Let's hear it for the suburbanization of NYC. Yeah. (*Sarcasm*)

laura said...

anon 7:42, grew up in brookyn, i know how conservative some of the outer areas are. i must be naive as i thought this has changed, people from NY area were more tolerant than the 1950s/60s. assumed w/internet, media, younger people were different. guess not, maybe it made it worse. (media has gotton obnoxious, even for me). i suspected some of the attackers were gay themselves, that was the first thought. the village needs a police patrol, plus their own gay protection. as for violence against women, what goes now in colleges was almost unheard of @ one time. some how i can rationalize that, more than these village incidents. you know, when the envelope is pushed too hard in one direction........, i think the gay rights groups, radical feminists, special interest groups should re think their priorities. other wize this will become unmanagable, as the world is becoming.

Anonymous said...

Yes, blame college-educated people from the suburbs for this. It couldn't possibly be some of the more than 50% of native New Yorkers who didn't even finish high school.