2016 was a devastating year for the LGBTQ+ community. The infamous Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida swept the news after a massacre which left 49 dead and 53 wounded during pride month that year. Countless mourning sites had been placed for all the victims and protests around the world started because of the homophobic action that had been taken place that night. We live in a world that doesn’t fully accept the community, but as a gay man we as a community have begun to find our own safe spaces and know where we are safetest. Time has passed since, but no one who is a part of the community has forgotten about that night; what it caused, what it meant, and what it feels like to know that could’ve been anywhere.
Colorado has always been, for the most part, a generally accepting state because of the residents’ ideals. This past Saturday night, Club Q experienced another horrific and traumatizing night. No one thought history would be repeating itself on this random November night. 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich opened fire in the club. Customers dancing, bartenders, and other patrons of the club had heard shots fired but thought it was part of the music but soon realized it wasn’t what they originally thought. Everyone began to drop to the ground, run away, or hide behind anything they could.
Richard Fierro, a 15-year veteran of the US Army, was in attendance that night of the shooting and heard the sounds of the gunshots and knew exactly what was happening. His first instinct was to protect his family, waited until the shooter turned to head towards the patio of the club, where many goers had run towards to escape the shooter. “’It’s the reflex. Go. Go to the fire. Stop the action. Stop the activity. Don’t let no-one get hurt.’” Fiero said in an interview. The veteran was able to stop the shooter once he had turned around. He dragged him to the ground by his vest, and knocked the rifle out of his hand and took the sidearm pistol Aldrich had on him, and began to beat him with it.
Club Q was lucky to have Fierro in the establishment that night, he probably saved so many lives, but unfortunately there were five deaths and 19 people who have been injured. We see so many people coming out and talking about their firsthand experience in the club. Barrett Hudson talked about being shot seven times and being lucky that “Seven bullets missed my spine, missed my liver, missed my colon. I got really, really lucky. I don’t know how I’m here.” Gil Rodriguez spoke about being there to see his friend deejay that night and how “I honestly thought it was the music until I smelled the actual gunpowder.”
No one would expect something like this to happen while they are out having fun and celebrating their own queerness. Six years after the horrific events that took place in Orlando, we’ve seen another attack against a community that has always existed and is thought to be gaining more acceptance as time progresses.
Outright violence towards people simply existing and having fun in their own spaces is a really hard thing for me to grasp. We’ve created these places for ourselves; clubs, restaurants, districts in cities, and other places. These are meant to be safe havens for anyone who identifies in a way that is seen as “not normal,” a place where we don’t expect bad things to happen because it’s ours and it’s where we can be us fully.
Being gay and working in a gay club in small city where I personally have experienced homophobia, it’s become a real fear of mine that something like this could happen. I know it’s very unlikely, but I’m sure it is something that haunts not only me but quite a lot of employees or goers of these clubs and other safe spaces that the LGBTQ+ community has created for themselves. It’s important that people hear, absorb, and take what they’ve learned from these two shocking events and use it to help protect others and be more wary of what could happen. I hope something like this never happens again. And for those that were lost because of ignorance and foul thinking, thank you for being courageous enough to be honest to the world about who you are and to show the world who we as a community are. I hope you all “rest in power”.
This broke my heart. People deserve to feel safe being exactly who they want to be. Hate that there are such nasty people in the world.
Its so sad to see, im glad that you wrote this though it was a good read
This is such a shame. Thank you for educating me and others on these unjust events in the LGBTQIA+ community,