LGBT groups have condemned a white
nationalist rally that took place on Saturday in Charlottesville,
Virginia.
The rally descended into violence when
a man drove a car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one
woman and injuring 19 others, CNN reported. The woman was identified
on Sunday as 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Police arrested the driver,
James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Maumee, Ohio.
The white nationalists were protesting
the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
“Hate & bigotry on display in
#Charlottesville must be challenged wherever it rears its ugly head,”
HRC President Chad Griffin tweeted. “This is not us. America is
not this.”
In a statement given to the Washington
Blade, James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia,
said that “intimidating communities with taunts and violence has no
place here,” a possible reference to reports that protesters
chanted racist, xenophobic and homophobic slurs while rallying at he
Untie for the Right rally, including a group of protesters chanting
“fuck you, faggots!” at counterdemonstrators.
“Anyone who doesn't strongly condemn
the Unite for the Right rally is complicit in supporting this
dangerous and racist agenda,” he added.
Democrats and Republicans criticized
President Donald Trump's response to the violence.
“We condemn in the strongest possible
terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many
sides, on many sides,” Trump said. “It's been going on for a
long time in our country. Not Donald Trump. Not Barack Obama. This
has been going on for a long, long time.”
“Very important for the nation to
hear @potus describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a
terror attack by #whitesupremists,” messaged Senator Marco Rubio, a
Republican from Florida.