Florida Agenda

Daniel Hernandez trying to go about his life, but spotlight is bright

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

photo Daniel Hernandez

Two weeks ago, Daniel Hernandez blended into the 35,000 thousand students that attend the University of Arizona. Now he is a hero who receives applause from his fellow classmates and neighbors and taking meetings of congratulations from President Barack Obama.

Hernandez’s actions helped save the life of Rep.

Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot in the head during a bloody rampage that left six dead and dozens others wounded in a Safeway parking lot in Tucson, Ariz.

Giffords is currently recovering from her wounds at University Medical Center in Tucson, and doctors say she is fighting and making progress everyday. Her status has been upgraded from critical to serious.

“It’s really hard to describe how much better I feel and just knowing she’s been a fighter,” Hernandez said. “I can’t say I’m surprised that something miraculous happened, but still, it sends chills down your spine.”

Hernandez held Giffords’ hand and tended to her wounds until paramedics arrived. He had interned for the congresswoman for all of five days prior to the shooting.

When President Barack Obama came to Tucson for the memorial service for the fallen victims, Hernandez sat next to him on stage for the live televised event. Almost as many people wanted to shake Hernandez’s hand as they did of the president’s.

Hernandez said the whole event still seems unreal. He can’t even remember exactly what he said Wednesday night. “I ended up throwing away the speech I was going to be giving moments before I went up on stage. I think it’s really disingenuous to be doing anything other than speaking from the heart.”

The 20-year-old has given more than 200 local and national interviews in the past two weeks, but is really trying to get back to a sense of normalcy for himself and his family.

“My main focus is making sure I can get back to school, make sure no matter what I do I finish up for my degree,” Hernandez said. “I keep saying I don’t want the attention. If that makes sense to anyone but me. It’s just really hard to balance right now.”

Prior to the shooting, Hernandez was a strong fighter for LGBT equality. He was appointed as a commissioner at large to the City of Tucson Commission on Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Issues. He plans to help the organization with education outreach on issues such as bullying. C. Michael Woodward, co-chair of the commission, said Hernandez had a resume bigger than some candidates twice his age.

“It was pretty clear he was a mover and a shaker long before any of this happened,” Woodward said. “The real heroes are the ones who dedicate themselves to public service, but that’s what he’s planning to do anyway. He just got his hero badge early.

” Hernandez’s family has also been stunned by how much his life has changed. “I still see him and I think he’s so normal,” said Alma Hernandez. “I find it awkward that people see him as a celebrity type. Little kids look up to him. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it. It’s just weird.”

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.