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I grew up in Colorado Springs and have been invited to Club Q by friends who go there several times per week. They go there often not simply because it’s a “gay bar” in a central part of town, but because it’s a place they feel safe. A place where they can be themselves and be with family—not just other members of the LGBTQ community, but an extended family of people who care for them.
What’s not talked about enough is how few places members of Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ community have to feel safe or be themselves.
And while anti-LGBTQ rhetoric is high nationwide, it’s been high in the Springs for years.
Focus on the Family has for decades spewed intolerance of LGBTQ people from the comfort of its massive, tax-free compound on the city’s north end. Then area preachers parrot the hateful rhetoric from tax-free pulpits.
Meanwhile, some city leaders align themselves with groups behind anti-LGBTQ legislation. A top board member of the city’s largest school district posts transphobic memes online. A charter school kicks a transgender girl out of a homecoming dance because she wears a dress.
No one should feel unsafe simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Everyone deserves the freedom to be themselves. But until citizens and city leaders take a stand against these organizations and the people behind them, cowards like the evil man who killed five people at Club Q will continue to feel justified and empowered to harm LGBTQ people.
Ryan Lowery
Editor’s note: Letters to the editor have not been edited nor fact-checked.