Members of New Bedford's LGBTQ community joined together Saturday night to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the brutal attacks at Puzzles, the former gay bar located on North Front Street in the city's north end.

Around 50 people attended the ceremony at the First Unitarian Church of New Bedford, hosted by the Southcoast LGBTQ Network.

Many of the speakers made light that the event was to focus more on the accomplishments of the LGBTQ community rather than memorializing the tragic attacks.

John Masson, coordinator on the LGBT Youth, Education & Schools Committee as well as a peer leader at the New Bedford Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, said the public forum held days after the attack at Carney Academy helped the city become a more tolerant place.

"We all know change is a cumulative effect of a number of different things that happen over time," Masson said. "If the community forum on homophobia and violence had not taken place, I don't believe any of these other things would've happened."

The ceremony was followed by a candlelight walk to A Perfect Place, the city's LGBTQ youth center on Pleasant Street.

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