Editor’s note: Letters to the Editor have not been edited nor fact-checked.
Dear Editors,
Given the fact that five people were killed by a gunman at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs in 2022, I found the cover headline and image on your inaugural edition to be concerning, in poor taste, and tone deaf to the needs of the community.
The headline: “The Deadliest Year Ever.” The image: a police officer holding what could easily be mistaken for a gun pointed straight into the face of the reader (let alone anyone who happens to accidentally glance at the cover).
Regardless that this was about traffic accidents, and not the shooting, this design choice is not only incredibly insensitive but deeply triggering for a large number of Colorado Springs community members, the LGBTQ+ community, and those who were directly impacted by the Club Q tragedy.
I sincerely hope the new Sixty35 publication will use a more discerning lens in the coming days as to how you try to gain readership—especially when it comes to being more sensitive to what is impacting the marginalized communities of our area.
One thing is for sure… as a 26-year-resident of Colorado Springs, I know we would never have seen this on the cover of any edition of The Independent.
Dara Hoffman-Fox
Colorado Springs