Orlando Shooting: Labour MP Wes Streeting Captures UK Parliament's LGBT Solidarity

'In my constituency, Muslims don't murder gay people they elect them'
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A gay Labour MP has captured the spirit of solidarity in the UK following the Orlando club shooting that killed 49 people.

Wes Streeting told Parliament: "In my constituency of Ilford North, Muslims don't murder gay people they elect them."

Streeting was among a series of British MPs who spoke defiantly in the House of Commons in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

Home Secretary Theresa May, responding to an urgent ministerial question table by Labour MP Stephen Doughty, condemned the attack as “utterly evil”.

Streeting, elected to the North London constituency in May last year, added: 

"I know I speak on behalf of all of the diverse faith communities in my constituency in sending solidarity to the LGBT community in Orlando.

"The truth is this attacker was not a lone wolf when it comes to hatred against LGBT people.

"And it may be an uncomfortable truth for some people in this country, and around the world, but just because he carried bullets it doesn't mean the prejudice they carry is any better." 

“In my constituency of Ilford North, Muslims don't murder gay people they elect them.”

- Wes Streeting MP

He urged Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to redouble efforts to marginalise discrimination in schools.

Streeting argued the Government had to ensure "every child, irrespective if their background and the type of school they attend, is taught that in this country, in standing up for human rights we do not tolerate or accept in any way discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity".

More than 50 people were injured and 49 died after Omar Mateen opened fire at the Pulse nightclub in Florida the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mateen, who was killed in a shootout with police, was armed with an AR-15 assault type rifle, a handgun and an explosive device. It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

Before You Go

Orlando Pulse Club Shooting
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Orlando Police officers direct family members away from a multiple shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, June 12, 2016. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Jermaine Towns, left, and Brandon Shuford, second from left, wait down the street from the scene of the shooting. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Brandon Shuford, left, waits down the street from the scene of a shooting. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Jermaine Towns, left, waits down the street from the scene of the shooting. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Jermaine Towns, left, and Brandon Shuford wait down the street from a multiple shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. Towns said his brother was in the club at the time. A gunman opened fire at a nightclub in central Florida, and multiple people have been wounded, police said Sunday. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Police officers stand guard. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Bystanders wait down the street. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Police cars surround the Pulse Orlando nightclub. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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A police officer stands guard outside the Orlando Regional Medical Center hospital. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, center right, and Orlando Police Chief John Mina, center left, arrive to a news conference. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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People wait outside the emergency entrance of the Orlando Regional Medical Center. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)