Photo: U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford (D-Ariz.) Courtesy, AP

Arizona congresswomen a supporter of gay rights

In the wake of the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford (D-Ariz.) on Jan. 8 at a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz., comes word that the person that is credited with saving her life is a gay college student.

Daniel Hernandez, 20, said he ran toward the gunfire once he realized that 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner was unloading shots from a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine. Loughner shot Giffords in the head and killed six people and wounded 14 others during a spree that officials are still investigating.

The tragic event took place at a Safeway grocery store while Giffords was having an open forum for constituents of Arizona’s 8th district.

“My main goal was to try to make sure the congresswoman and everyone was OK,” said Hernandez, a University of Arizona junior. “When I saw injured people I tried to tend to them as good as I could, until emergency personnel arrived.”

Hernandez had only been an intern for Giffords for five days prior to the shooting. “I don’t think I’m a hero,” Hernandez said. “I think doing something one off is not something heroic.”

Hernandez said that Giffords responded to him while she lay on the ground waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

“She was able to hold my hand when I asked her if she could hear me,” recalled Hernandez. “I wasn’t able to get any words from her. She may have been trying, but because of the way that I was having to hold her it was a lot easier to just ‘if you can hear me Gabby just grab my hand to let me know that you’re okay.’”

Doctors at the University Medical Center in Tucson said during a media briefing Monday that Rep. Giffords’ condition has “stabililzed.”

Salon writer Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote in a piece on Monday that it does matter that Hernandez is gay, because it proves to people like Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain that being gay should never have mattered for the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” debate.

“It matters, because guys like Arizona Sen. John McCain, who described the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell” as “a very sad day,” still think that orientation has an effect on whether or not a person can ably serve in the military,” Williams wrote.

Giffords was a strong supporter of LGBT rights before the shooting. When elected in 2006, she immediately came out in support of the gay rights movement.

“I have stood up for equality in Arizona, and I am grateful that HRC and the GLBT community stood with our campaign during the primary and the general elections,” Gifford told the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in 2006. “We can accomplish so much for our families when we work together. Fairness is an essential American value, and when we champion fairness, we can win decisive victories in even the most competitive congressional districts.”

National LGBT rights organizations are shocked and saddened by the shooting, which left six people dead and dozens others injured.

“We are shocked and saddened by the events involving Congresswoman Giffords, and our hearts go out to her and the other victims of this awful tragedy,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Gabby Giffords is a champion for LGBT equality and a principled leader for Arizona. We wish her a speedy recovery as our thoughts and prayers are with her family as well as with the families of all of those touched by today’s horrific violence.