Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, is accused of opening fire Saturday in Club Q, a popular LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs. But police making the effort to get it right, particularly now, when anti-LGBTQ rhetoric is rampant, is meaningful. Daly noted a generational shift among Christian leaders away from the rhetorical style of his predecessor, Dr. James Dobson. Other local enforcement officials, including the El Paso County Sheriffs Office which has taken over custody of the suspect continued to refer to the suspect using he/him pronouns after the filing stating their gender identity. "I mean, there's a hell of a lot more than 5 deaths caused by focus on the family," one user tweeted. People link hands at the memorial near Club Q in Colorado Springs. 2023 Cable News Network. Hours & Location Hours: Mon Fri : 9am 5:30pm Sat: 9am 5pm Closed Sunday Address: 8685 Explorer Drive Colorado Springs, CO 80920-1051 Phone: (719)-531-3464 E-mail: Bookstore.Associate@fotf.org Available Products Adventures in Priester-Collins is sharing her story only now as the suspected shooters preliminary trial begins because she says shes worried this community is forgetting them with such a focus on the suspected shooter. apprehended by club patrons Richard Fierro and Thomas James, comes from a conservative Republican family, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. Discovery Company. Update 11/28/2022, 10:23 a.m. Five people died, and at least 18 others were wounded. Bouquets of flowers and a sign reading "love over hate" are left near Club Q on Sunday. Earlier this month, a gunman opened fire at Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing five and injuring 25 others. (KKTV) The incident comes as Colorado Springs continues to grieve the senseless loss of life at Club Q nearly one week ago. David Zalubowski / AP. Focus on the Family has previously advocated for anti-LGBTQ messaging. This is a time for prayer, grieving and healing, not vandalism and the spreading of hate., Focus on the Family defines itself as a global Christian ministry dedicated to helping families thrive. The organization supports the anti-abortion movement in the abortion debate, and features anti-LGBT+ broadcasts, including Leaving Homosexuality and Finding Forgiveness and Transformed by Grace: Leaving Homosexuality to Follow Christ., The families of the five individuals killed in Saturday nights senseless attack are in our prayers, Daly said. After the shooting, Focus on the Familys president, Jim Daly, said that like the rest of the community he was mourning the tragedy. Over the summer, members of the extremist group Proud Boys interrupted a drag queen story hour, and other groups have since protested the events or forced them to be canceled. A Warner Bros. When you pump that demoralizing rhetoric into the atmosphere, when you supercharge the political environment to make it as hostile as possible toward LGBTQ people, someone has to pay the price, he told CNNs Jim Acosta on Sunday. Contests & Promotions, 2023, Pikes Peak Television, Inc. Colorado Springs, CO, USA, Accidente de trenes en Grecia deja al menos 36 muertos y decenas de heridos, New housing opens for 59 homeless veterans on VA land in Los Angeles 6 years after 1,200 units were promised, He shot me! fatally wounded 9-year-old in Orlando shooting cried as she ran to mother, affidavit says. Richard Fierro speaks during a news conference outside his Colorado Springs home on Monday, November 21. Refusing to acknowledge someones humanity in death adds insult to injury, according to GLAAD, compounding the tragedy by invalidating the persons lived reality.. Herod and others who have been around long enough are remembering this week how in the 1990s, at the height of the religious rights influence, the Colorado Springs-based group Colorado for Family Values spearheaded a statewide push to pass Amendment 2 and make it illegal for communities to pass ordinances protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination. The hearing is scheduled to continue through Friday, when a judge will rule if there is enough evidence to take the case which includes more than 300 charges to trial. The Family Research Institutewhich reported only $50,000 in revenue in 2021appears not to have addressed the shooting. ", The article is written by Jeff Johnston. A suspect, who was reportedly tackled by club patrons before police arrived, remains jailed without bond. A lot of people here know Club Q as being that safe haven., Paige Skinner is a breaking news reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The man suspected of fatally shooting five people and injuring more than a dozen others at an LGBTQ nightclub is facing murder It comes as a shocked Colorado Springs grieves the loss of five people Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump and Ashley Paugh after a person armed with an AR-style rifle fired into Club Q just before midnight on 19 November. Learn more about Willis here. On the night of the shooting, the suspect arrived at Club Q around 10:14 p.m. and stayed for just a few minutes before leaving and coming back inside with guns, including an assault-style rifle, she said. She said shes seen and heard hateful anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from influential figures in Colorado Springs. Instead of relying on IDs or legal identifiers, Vasquez and the police department communicated with victims families through victim advocates, who provided the names and pronouns by which their loved ones were known, Colorado Springs Police Department spokesperson Pamela Castro told CNN in an email. We will not go back into any closet. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. This is a time for prayer, grieving and healing, not vandalism and the spreading of hate, Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, said in a statement shared with The Independent. In addition to the five people who were killed, at least 18 others were injured. There must be a willingness to learn about the full lives of those taken from us for the sake of respecting and honoring their lives.. The errors taught by transgender activists, and believed by many today, are likewise a result of sin and deception entering into the world. Focus on the Family is a global Christian ministry dedicated to helping families thrive. Its opening sentence describes the shooting as coming after years of intensifying anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, acts of violence and intimidation, and discriminatory legislation from far-right individuals and groups, including powerful Republican politicians., After attacks on conservative commentators Matt Walsh, Ben Shapiro, and Candace Owens; Libs of TikTok owner Chaya Raichik; Florida Gov. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. Their blood is on your hands and five lives taken were spray-painted onto the signfollowing Saturday nights mass shooting in Colorado Springs at Club Q. The alleged shooter, whose defense attorneys have said uses they/them pronouns, ran a website and posted several videos of other mass shootings, including ones at synagogues and mosques mainly in Europe, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department's Rebecca Joines, the lead detective on the case. Under the resources for homosexuality and sexual identity, there are video links, book recommendations, and more for parents and people looking for a "Christian" perspective. Adrian Vasquez, chief of the Colorado Springs Police Department, made an effort to use the right names and pronouns for the victims killed at Club Q. Law enforcement says a gunman went into the establishment late on the night of Nov. 19 and opened fire, killing five and injuring 18 before he was taken down by a couple of patrons. More than one-third of residents are nonwhite twice as many as in 1980. In a press conference earlier this week, Vasquez said he wanted to identify the victims how they identified themselves, and how their families have loved and identified them.. "[Gay is] a word that means what other people say it meansnothing more, nothing less," the webpage said. Five lives taken, reads the graffiti on the brick Focus on the Family sign, which outside its facility off Briargate Parkway in north Colorado Springs. Joshua Thurman, who was in the club at the time of the shooting, reacts on Sunday. Joe Biden Turns Americas Government Into Wokeness Inc. She testified that she believes the suspect modeled the Club Q shooting after the shootings they posted on their neo-Nazi website. Below you will find contact information and answers to a candidate questionnaire from The Gazette. Not for the "stupid price" of $150 an acre foot. The memorials this week attracted a wave of visitors: crowds of mourners clutching flowers, throngs of television crews and also a church group whose volunteers set up a tent and passed out cookies, coffee and water. WebFocus on the Family - Visit Colorado Springs Home Focus on the Family 8605 Explorer Dr | Colorado Springs, CO | 80920 Main: (719) 531-3400 Map Website Overview Focus on the Family welcomes visitors to the ministry's Welcome Center in Colorado Springs. People hold a vigil at a makeshift memorial near the Club Q nightclub on November 20, 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Published In 2019, Brandon Ragan, one of the departments LGBTQ liaisons, told WMFE, Orlandos public radio station, that the department had made mistakes in its investigation into Gardens death and would learn from them going forward. 2:27 PM EST, Wed November 23, 2022. Many news outlets cited Dalys condemnation of the shooting, but the Southern Poverty Law Center notably did not. Below you will find contact information and answers to a candidate questionnaire from The Gazette. Days after the mass shooting, someone left a spray-painted message on a Focus on the Family sign. Colorado Springs shooting victims The Colorado Springs Police Department identified the five people killed at Club Q as: Raymond Green Vance (he/him) Opponents of these events often use language that conflates drag performers with trans people and dehumanizes LGBTQ people. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Phylisha Priester-Collins, her daughter and a friend were inside Club Q when gunfire interrupted their lives and changed their perspectives, forever. Woman shot near CU Boulder overnight, suspect is at large, This is unprecedented": Avian flu has killed 12,000 birds in Colorado, Skygazers will have a great view Wednesday of two planets that look like they are almost touching, Letters: Proposed age limit for gun ownership in Colorado doesn't make sense, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot concedes defeat, Southern California home sales fall to all-time low, NYC Mayor Adams dismisses need to separate church and state, declares himself a servant of God, Zero-calorie sweetener linked to heart attack and stroke, study finds, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. After the shooting, Focus on the Familys president, Jim Daly, said that like the rest of the community he was mourning the tragedy. Opinion: Colorado farms going fallow? It reminded May of her beloved great-grandparents, who were religious. Donate now. (Photo: Focus on the Family), Tyler O'Neil Much like in the 1990s, Focus on the Family and New Life Church remain prominent in town. CNNs Alaa Elassar, Elizabeth Wolfe and Theresa Waldrop contributed to this report. This is a time for prayer, grieving and healing, not vandalism and the spreading of hate. November 29, 2022, Vandals targeted Focus on the Family's Colorado Springs headquarters two days after the Southern Poverty Law Center mentioned the Christian organization in an article tying the Club Q shooting to "anti-LGBTQ hate." His biography for Focus on the Family says he's an Issues Analyst who "regularly shares his story of struggling as a Christian with same-sex attractions and how God brought healing and change to his life.". Stephanie Vigil was just elected to represent Colorado Springs in the state legislature. A rainbow flag is draped over the Colorado Springs City Hall on Wednesday, November 23, in honor of the victims of Club Q mass shooting. Please check your inbox to confirm. 2. There has been a concerted push to shed the citys reputation as Jesus Springs and remake it yet again, highlighting its elite Olympic Training Center and branding itself as Olympic City USA. This is a time for prayer, grieving and healing, not vandalism and the spreading of hate," Focus on the Family President Jim Daly told Newsweek in an emailed statement. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KDVR) Two days after a shooter killed six people and then himself, police have released the names of those killed and the details of But that may be irrelevant in court; as the Associated Press noted, hate crime laws focus on the victims, not the perpetrators. Police told 11 News partner The Gazette that the statement was spray-painted at some point during the wee hours of Thursday morning. With the city under the national spotlight, he said the organization wanted to make it clear it stands against hate. Though the initiative passed in 1992, in 1995 the Supreme Court found that it violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day. It is no surprise that someone did this in the city that is home to such a hateful organization as Focus on the Family.. Community members gather for a vigil Sunday at the All Souls Unitarian Church in Colorado Springs. PUBLISHED: February 22, 2023 at 9:05 a.m. | UPDATED: February 22, 2023 at 9:06 a.m. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Five people were hospitalized We do. newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. Joines also testified that the suspect had used anti-gay slurs in the past, calling their apartment property manager a "faggot" after they had an argument over the suspect not getting their mail. Wilson singles out Colorado Springs and Focus on the Family: Colorado Springs, where the shooting took place, has itself long been a hub for the Christian Right, which for decades has pumped out anti-LGBTQ propaganda in the name of a narrow and exclusionary definition of family. Its headquarters have been in Colorado Springs since 1991. Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics Daily Briefing Referring to a trans person by a name they no longer use is often known as deadnaming. A man was sentenced in 2020 for the murder of one woman, but the other two deaths have not been solved. Police, media and public officials have a responsibility to lead with respect, said Jay Brown, Human Rights Campaign senior vice president for programs, research and training, in a statement to CNN. The families of the five individuals killed inSaturday night's senseless attack are in our prayers. However, these laws and policies allow dangerous individuals open admission to public accommodations. 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