COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As the Colorado Springs Police Department continues to investigate the shooting that occurred at LGBTQ club, Club Q just before midnight on Nov. 19, and resulted in five deaths and 25 injured, the LGBTQ community, locally and nationally, is in mourning.
Nov. 20 is Transgender Remembrance Day, intended to memorialize those who have been killed as a result of transphobia as well as to draw attention to the continued violence endured by the transgender community.
For many, the shooting occurring only minutes before Transgender Remembrance Day only highlights the danger the LGBTQ community continues to face daily.
Colorado Springs mother, Tatjana Tyndall, is especially aware of this danger after her daughter decided not to visit Club Q the night of the shooting due to being tired from work.
“My daughter frequents Club Q and was planning on going with friends in honor of Transgender Remembrance Day. She works nights, so she decided to stay home and rest instead,” said Tyndall. “It makes me sick to my stomach… I [have] always taught love is love. I have always been an advocate for my gay and trans friends and family; to hear [of violence in a place where] they want to be accepted is the worst feeling ever.”
Tyndall awoke on Nov. 20 to multiple messages seeing if any of her three children had been at Club Q the night before.
“I am probably one of the luckiest mothers in the world [because] I get to love two transgender children and a son who is gay,” said Tyndall.
Despite feeling lucky, Tyndall also experiences fear daily worrying for her children’s safety.
“When [my daughter] goes out, gets in an Uber, or even shops, I worry daily for her safety,” Tyndall said. “As a parent, you worry. As a parent of children who are not understood, you worry more.”
Tyndall questions how the LGBTQ communities in Colorado will recover.
“Colorado will recover from this,” said Tyndall. “But will Club Q? Will the victims? Will transgender and gay people ever have a safe space now that this was ripped away?”
It’s a question that Colorado Spring’s LGBTQ communities are grappling with as five people are mourned and some victims continue to battle their injuries at local hospitals.
“Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance,” said Inside Out Youth Services, based in Colorado Springs, “[Today] we mourn the lives of transgender people who have been killed. This mass shooting has compounded the pain already felt so keenly by our community.”