Saturday, 08 January 2011 21:30

As you probably know, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was the victim of an attempted assassination this morning, and remains in critical condition. Because of the mass shooting, today’s scheduled Pac-10 game between Arizona and Stanford has been postponed
until Sunday at 12:30 p.m. MT (2:30 p.m. ET).
"The University feels the game should be delayed with deep respect to the victims and families impacted by this tragedy," Arizona athletics director Greg Byrne said. Byrne read a statement from Wildcats coach Sean Miller:
"Basketball should be the last thing on anyone's mind right now. Our thoughts are with the families in our community touched by this tragedy. As a husband, father as a father and member of the community, today's events have affected me deeply."
Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) has been an active Member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus.
“Congresswoman Giffords’ support for our LGBT family has never faltered. After coming off of one of the closest races in the most recent election cycle, one in which she was criticized for her support of equality issues, she didn’t hesitate for a moment to support the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’. She has stood with us unrelentingly and in this sad time we stand with her. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Congresswoman, her staff and their families,” said LGBT Congressional Staff Association President, Chris Crowe. Congresswoman Giffords replaced 11-term Rep. Jim Kolbe, the only openly gay Republican in Congress.

Media attention has focused on Sarah Palin’s Political Action Committee site’s controversial targeting of Gifford and other democrats. Giffords during an interview in March said:
“Sarah Palin has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district and when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there are consequences to that action.” During her recent bitter fight for her re-election, her primary rival, Tea Party favorite Jesse Kelly sponsored a campaign event in June promoted as "Get on Target for Victory in November/Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office/Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."