Thousands honor Orlando shooting victims during vigil at Stonewall Inn

NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke at a vigil that drew thousands of people Monday evening at the Stonewall Inn.

A police counterterrorism unit stood watch at the event outside the Greenwich Village tavern, which President Barack Obama has proposed to designate as the first national monument honoring the history of gays and lesbians in the U.S.

A somber light in the darkness, as night fell in Greenwich Village. They read the names of the victims in Orlando, Monday night. An endless procession of grief felt so deeply here.

Thousands flooded the streets outside the Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of the gay rights movement, a moving show of solidarity and anguish, searching as one for solace that is just now, so hard to come by.

The crowd shouted "Not one more" and "Love is love is love is love is love".

"Their life was ahead of them and it's gone, and they had mothers and fathers and lovers, and they all belong to somebody, but they belong to us," a mourner said.

"It's an attack on humanity. It is attack on we, we the humans, the human race, gay, straight, bisexual, transgender,"

The governor came and prayed at the vigil that has grown in front of Stonewall, and the mayor came too.

They spoke about gun laws that don't get passed and the pain that does not end.

"We had Columbine, we had Virginia Tech, we had Sandy Hook, we had San Bernardino, we had Aurora, Colorado, when does it stop?" Governor Cuomo said.

"The problem is that people who are willing to take lives indiscriminately can get a gun," a mourner said.

Nick Jonas and Tituss Burgess also spoke at the event.

A 1969 police raid at Stonewall led to street protests widely credited as the start of large-scale gay rights activism.

A group of transgender Hispanic activists marched through the borough of Queens on Monday "to free our streets of homo-transphobia." Some politicians also joined in a vigil Monday night in Washington Heights, a largely Hispanic neighborhood.

(Some information from the Associated Press)