Club Q Shooting: An Egregious Attack on a Sacred Queer Space
Like many, I woke up Sunday morning to the horrific, gut-wrenching news of yet another mass shooting — this time at Club Q in Colorado.
A pit hardened in my stomach as I learned of the hate-fueled attack on my own community, in a place I used to go to feel safe as a young,queer college student living in Colorado Springs.Sadly, the feeling was all too familiar — it was the same one I felt after the tragedy at Pulse nightclub in Orlando: My achy queer heart spilling over in every direction with grief, with rage, with bewilderment, and more than anything, with love for my LGBTQ+ community.I went to Colorado College in Colorado Springs, a city where, as in many other places, there were forces — including radical antigay extremism — that made it challenging to be queer.
I spent much of my time feeling desperate for the freedom and safety to be myself, my full self. Club Q and the other gay bars in the area were some of the only places we could go to feel joy, wholeness, and community.I learned to love myself in these queer spaces across Colorado Springs and Denver.
I even wrote my college thesis on the power and absolute necessity of them, specifically bars and nightclubs. We build these spaces with tenderness and purpose — sanctuaries where we can be together, be whole, be visible, be safe.
