RICHMOND, Va. -- The former director of the Central Florida Gay and Lesbian Center, who now lives in Richmond, said her heart was racing when she heard the news about the Orlando nightclub massacre.
“My heart was racing, I was clinging to my box of Kleenex like it was my best friend ,” Lani Ennes said.
Orlando was her hometown of 30 years. She calls herself a "part time Richmonder," because she travels back to Florida so often.
“It was extremely heart breaking it's my home and to know that it happened in my own backyard was just really devastating,” she said. “We were the center of the gay and lesbian community, we were the heart of the queer community.”
Ennes said she didn’t know anyone personally who died, but that the entire community feels their losses.
Donna Haynesworth, a Mechanicsville resident, just returned from a vacation in Orlando. It’s a city she frequently visits.
“I was there with the purpose of being on vacation, now when I heard the news it struck me even more greatly because had I heard it and if I was in Richmond I still would have been just as sad -- but to actually be there and this is happening, it made me... I don't know... it made me very nervous,” she said.
And many still remain nervous after the attack, one that many call the most deadly hate crime in recent history.
Yet from Florida to Virginia, Ennes said she receives both comfort and strength from those around her.
“The outpouring and love and support from Richmond has been overwhelming it's been so wonderful,” she said. "It gives me hope for humanity that we are all united and that we all care for each other no matter the miles of separation between us."
Ennes even created her own t-shirt. It shows a rainbow heart with the hashtag Orlando strong.
"That's what we are. We are Orlando strong," she added.
She will return home to Orlando soon.
“When I think about Orlando and I think about that vibrant tenacious community and I'm not just talking about the LGBT community I'm talking about the city of Orlando," she said. "It just makes me melt, it makes me so proud to say that I'm from Orlando.”
