LGBTQ community reacts to Colorado Springs shooting

In a public statement, LGBTQ ally President Joe Biden said, “Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence. Yet it happens far too often. We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people. We cannot and must not tolerate hate.”

Gay Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) called the shooting “horrific, sickening, and devastating,” adding, “Colorado stands with our LGBTQ Community and everyone impacted by this tragedy as we mourn.”

“Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance – a day where we should be honoring the lives and memory of trans people lost to senseless violence. Instead, we mourn the losses of yet another hate crime against our community,” San Francisco Pride said in an emailed statement. “Republicans always say this is not the time to politicize gun violence, but that’s because they are complicit cowards to the gun lobby. These people should not have died in vain – this is the time to act. We need true gun violence prevention now.”

“We mourn with the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado Springs for the lives taken and those wounded in this act of hate,” Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings said. “America’s toxic mix of bigotry and absurdly easy access to firearms means that such events are all too common and LGBTQ+ people, BIPOC communities, the Jewish community and other vulnerable populations pay the price again and again for our political leadership’s failure to act. We must stand together to demand meaningful action before yet another tragedy strikes our nation.”

“Our hearts ache for the victims of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs,” said NCLR Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon. “5 lives were stolen, at least 18 more injured, and countless lives will be forever changed. It is devastating that they were targeted in a space where we look for community.”

“We have seen an unmistakable rise in hateful rhetoric directed at our community. This rhetoric cannot be separated from the tragedy we grieve today. Anti-LGBT messages contribute to a culture that fans the flames of violence toward us. On Transgender Day of remembrance, we honor trans folks we have lost to violence and rededicate ourselves to ending this violence. To do this, we need real gun reform. And we need to dismantle the culture that allows hateful rhetoric to give rise to tragedies like this one.”

“Today, we awakened to the all too familiar horror: another hate motivated mass shooting targeting a community that has been vilified and dehumanized by hateful political rhetoric. It is no coincidence that yet another community refuge, and the safety it provides, has been shattered amidst a political climate supercharged with anti-LGBTQ hate by powerful leaders and right wing extremists. Thanksgiving tables will have empty chairs this week. Holidays will have missing faces,” Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith added. “These are the costs of hate violence — costs we know all too well.”