They came from all facets of queer life, hundreds of people gathered at the corner of Church and Wellesley streets tonight to stand vigil against homophobic violence.

Watch our video report:

Starting shortly before 8pm, the crowd soon spilled into the roadway. After a series of moving speeches, well documented by mainstream media, the crowd devoted a moment of silence to gay and lesbian people who have died because of homophobia.

The crowd then marched peacefully to Queen's Park, chanting “End the silence on homophobic violence.” Police stopped traffic.

It happened after a series of recent reports of suicides among young gay people in Canada and the US, including those of Jeanine Blanchette and Christine Dube, who died this past weekend in Orangeville.

A candlelight vigil has been planned for Chris Skinner, the Toronto gay man who was murdered on Oct 18.

Christopher Skinner Vigil.

Church and Wellesley.

Sun, Oct 25, 8pm.

Facebook event: Christopher Skinner Vigil 

From the Facebook event:

"A young gay man, Christopher Skinner, was savagely attacked and murdered while walking home from his sister's birthday party this past Saturday night in downtown Toronto. Although the police have been reluctant to call this a 'hate crime', Chris' sexuality was undoubtedly a factor in this otherwise unprovoked attack. It is a stark reminder that queer bashing is still an all too common occurrence in Canada."

At a press conference yesterday, police released an image of the SUV implicated in the murder. They also said they were not pursuing the case as a hate crime at this time.

Read more in Xtra's coverage of the Chris Skinner murder