It was a Saturday night in Colorado Springs and Club Q was humming to the beat of young people just out to have a good time. It was time for the Saturday drag show, a dance party and more was on tap for the LGBTQ+ community that turned out for a night of fun and entertainment.
Anderson Lee Aldrich had other plans.
Plans that involved a semiautomatic rifle.
Before he was done, Aldrich had killed 5 people and injured 25 more.
It was a toll of tragedy and death that could've been much worse except for the quick thinking and sharp reflexes of a club attendee who was able to subdue the attacker.
If this seems distressingly familiar, the attack on Club Q echoes the 2016 massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people.
And if this seems distressingly frequent, well, it is. The attack on Club Q was the sixth mass killing this month.
As I write this, details about Anderson Lee Aldrich are a bit sketchy but what we do know is pretty disturbing.
It seems that Aldrich was able to legally purchase his semi-automatic rifle despite a record of previous run ins with the police.
Violence against the LGBTQ+ community is sadly not surprising.
Political extremists have seized upon anti-LGBTQ+ messaging nationwide as a tactic to rile up voters to raise campaign funds and gain political power. Right wing candidates spent at least $50 million on political ads attacking LGBTQ+ rights and transgender youth with anti-trans and anti-equality ads ran in at least 25 states, spreading falsehoods about gender-affirming care and transgender children.
It is a constant drumbeat of hostility that creates an environment where someone thinks they can solve the "problem" of LGBTQ+ people with a gun.
In the aftermath of the assault on Club Q, there is an effort to offer the message of "love over hate". Even in the face of tragedy and death, good people still seek to assert the positive.
If only the message of hate wasn't so damn incessant and so loud.
No comments:
Post a Comment