LGBT advocacy group helping Orlando shooting aid efforts

All Under One Roof’s board quickly got together Monday to figure out how the Pocatello community could help those affected by the gay nightclub shooting early Sunday morning.

The board’s chair, Kevin Lish, was in disbelief when he first heard about the shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

“It’s always hiding in the back of your mind as a gay man that something like this could happen. I really hoped it never would,” Lish said.

As quickly as shock took over him, Lish thought of how to help the situation.

“While we open up our hearts, we also need to open up our checkbooks and do everything we can to help all those families that have been devastated,” he said.

To kick things off, AUOR turned their Pocatello Pride volunteer recruitment event at Club Charley’s into a fundraiser as well. The group also decided to host a candlelight vigil on Wednesday in Caldwell Park at 6:30 p.m. All events for Pocatello Pride next week will also be collecting donations.

All donations will be sent to Equality Florida, an LGBT Center handling relief funds for the shooting.

The group also wants to remind people spaces like Club Charley’s are still the safe spaces they were. For a lot of the LGBT community, gay and lesbian bars and clubs act as safe havens. Since the shooter’s target was a gay nightclub, Lish said that feeling of security could have been “shattered” for some.

AUOR board member and Club Charley’s co-owner Jon Persil said the bar is a community staple for local LGBT folks.

“It has been around since 1996 or 1997” Piersol said. “The previous owners we inherited it from created more of a safe haven for the LGBT community and for allies as well.”

Club Charley’s was Lish’s first gay bar growing up.

“It always feels like home going there. It was the only place when I was 21 that I felt safe, where I could be myself,” Lish said.

AUOR and Club Charley’s will be posting updates about upcoming events on their websites. Here’s a link to eachone. Here are links to their Facebookpages as well.

For those who want to donate directly to Equality Florida, here’s its website.