Borough Prez unveils completed Orlando memorial at Borough Hall

Love is love is love is love.

Just two days before the New York City Pride Parade, Borough President Eric Adams applied finishing touches to the rainbow ribbon that currently adorns Brooklyn Borough Hall, the pieces of which have been inscribed by thousands of Brooklynites with messages of hope, solidarity and – above all – love.

The more than 800-foot display – made up of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple ribbons – was hung over the course of about two weeks, and was first started the Tuesday after the deadly nightclub massacre in Orlando in which 49 people were killed and another 53 wounded.

“The mass murder at Pulse nightclub in Orlando was an attack on our brothers and sisters, including two proud Brooklyn natives, Brenda Lee Marquez McCool and Enrique Rios,” said Adams. “After the tragedy, I called on Brooklynites to transform their pain into purpose. The messages of hope that thousands of people have inscribed on this ribbon are a testament to their solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community and their belief that love will overcome hate.”

The memorial builds on the efforts of Adams – a 22-year veteran of the New York City Police Department – to eliminate gun violence in Brooklyn, and across the country.

“The Orlando act of hatred was so deadly because the shooter used an MCX assault rifle, which is designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible,” said Leah Barrett, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence (NYGAV). “It is a battlefield weapon, designed by the military for the military. These weapons have no place in civilian hands, which is why NYAGV supports a federal ban on assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines, something New York has had in place since 2013.”

In addition to the thousands of people left their mark on the memorial, several local organizations — including BRIC, the Brooklyn Arts Council, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce, the Prospect Park Alliance, and PS 287 Bailey K. Ashford — assisted in informing the public about the project and in collecting signatures.