‘Orange’ star: Shootings stole every gay person’s security

NEW YORK – A feeling of safety was stripped from every gay person with last weekend’s massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

That’s the sentiment of Lea DeLaria, who plays Big Boo in the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black.”

“When you are a queer individual, as I am, and you want to go someplace where you feel safe, you go to the local bar, you go to the gay bar,” DeLaria said Thursday.

The safe feeling from such a gathering place “was stolen from every LBGT person in the world on Sunday morning,” she said.

But DeLaria is seeing something hopeful come out of the tragedy: a renewed sense across the nation of gay people as fellow human beings, as evidenced by apologies from politicians for past homophobic statements and the rush by volunteers to help victims of the shootings and their loved ones.

DeLaria called the response “amazing,” but added, “If we could just stop teaching people to hate, and if we could just stop selling weapons of war, we would have a much better society.”

She made her comments at the New York premiere of the fourth season of “Orange,” which went live on the Netflix website Friday.