Now for the news. Today marks the 276th day Brittney Griner has been wrongfully detained. Another mass shooting has left the LGBTQ community devastated while we honor our trans fam on Trans Day of Resilience. Let’s go!
00:00 – Welcome & Intro
01:10 – Queer News Goes Weekly
01:36 – Top Stories This Week
02:10 – Intro Music by Aina Brei’Yon
02:52 – Club Q
06:36 – Follow Anna for the Latest
06:55 – Transgender Day of Resilience
08:37 – We Speak Their Names
10:33 – Anna’s Got A Word
Things for you to check out
Hire Trans Now
http://www.transinclusivechicago.org/hire
Elise Mallory Resolution Remarks from Iggy Ladden of Chicago Therapy Collective – Start at 37:22
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=notif&v=542671123862286¬if_id=1668614274021527¬if_t=live_video_explicit
Join the QCrew
Sign the Petition – Secure Brittney Griner’s Swift and Safe Return to the U.S.
https://www.change.org/p/secure-brittney-griner-s-swift-and-safe-return-to-the-u-s
Listen to More Queer News
Transcript
Family, it’s your favorite queer radio personality Anna DeShawn with our queer news for today. Now, I want to make you a promise. We will continue to bring you the latest in queer news, culture, and politics. So, if you are digging our intersectional take on the weekly, consider joining the QCrew.
The QCrew is our monthly membership program we started to help us grow the podcast. You get weekly emails from me and exclusive interviews with LGBTQ influencers from across the country. With your support, we can bring you more stories celebrating our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & comrade communities.
This month our exclusive interview for the QCrew is with Angie Harvey. Angie is a dear friend of mine and a woman on a mission to help tell our stories. Her documentary “Black Rainbow Love” was her introduction to film and it’s already won 13 awards and is making its international debut!
If you want to watch the exclusive interview, you have to join the QCrew. As always, the link is in the show notes.
Family, Queer News is now a weekly podcast. My goal is to build the team up so we can properly execute a daily pod. Until then, a new episode will drop every Monday by 7 AM Chicago time. If you enjoy what you hear please leave us a review and thank you for being on the Queer News podcast journey with us.
Now for the news. Today marks the 276th day Brittney Griner has been wrongfully detained. Another mass shooting has left the LGBTQ community devastated while we honor our trans fam on Trans Day of Resilience. Let’s go!
So today I thought I was gonna be talking about trans day of resilience and I thought I’d be talking about the respect for marriage act and you know the L word Premier, Beyoncé getting 9 Grammy nods, Wakanda forever at #1 and if you didn’t also hear Democrat Karen Bass became the first female mayor of Los Angeles. I mean there’s been some major wins all around and at the intersections of all my identities. And yet here we are today having to give time to another mass shooting. This time in Colorado Springs, this time it was club Q and this time five people have lost their lives and 25 are injured. Like when is enough enough. When will politicians stop taking NRA money and really think about the impact the use of guns are having in our communities. It’s simply ignorance that keeps us from making meaningful change in this country. Yes, people pull the triggers but people are products of their environments. So if you can’t control or fix or improve an individuals environment than we must control the tools they are using to harm others. Others who have done them no harm at all. So let’s get into what I know so far.
We know the gunman is 22 years old and his name is Anderson Lee Aldrich. I think this is incredibly important because for some reason we continue to think that these gun men are old white men. We have these ideas in our head that racism is in old peoples notion but racism and homophobia and transphobia and antisemitism these are all learned behaviors. These ideas are things that are taught and if we aren’t teaching our children differently this will not be the last mass shooting but let me digress.
They say that when he entered the building he started shooting right away. No one even had a moment to think. A moment to move differently. He just immediately opened fire. People inside the club and in the area started calling the police and they report receiving numerous 911 calls that started around 11:56 PM. The police were dispatched at 11:57pm and arrived at 12:02am. So much happened in those 6 minutes. 5 people were killed. 25 were injured. And two heroic patrons disarmed the gunman, took his gun and hit him on the head. They literally saved lives.
Now let’s talk about club Q. Club Q opened in 2002 yeah 20 years ago and it was the only LGBTQ club in Colorado Springsuntil recently. Like this was the spot. Honestly this isn’t surprising. I live in the city of Chicago and there are only a handful of LGBTQ bars here in this big city. And what I found is that this is pretty normal across the country. And so Club Q was the spot and that was no secret it was known as a safe haven for so many. They have all types of events, drag shows, and celebrations. I mean they had created a community and now this tragedy has landed at their doorsteps.
It’s all so heartbreaking for these families and this community. If we aren’t safe in our clubs I’m telling you right now we are not safe at all.
And all of this is happening as we close out Transgender Awareness Week with Trans Day of Resislence. This is a day to mourn and commemorate the lives of the vibrant, beloved transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people lost to violence and suicide in the past year. The date marks the birthday of Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman who was murdered in 1998. Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a transgender advocate, started TDOR in honor of her friend.
Although we will never know how many trans, nonbinary, and non-conforming individuals have been murdered, because many hate crimes are not reported, we take this moment to remember 70 of those names we do know here in the U.S.A.
Royal Poetical Starz 
El Cho 
Mel Robert Groves
Tayda Lebón
Keeva Scatter 
Jessi Hart 
Jo Acker 
Joey Spencer (“JoJo”)
Rikkey Outumuro (“Tru Starlet”) 
Jenny De Leon 
Marquiisha Lawrence
Danyale Johnson 
Angel Naira 
Haley Gabriella Feldmann 
Nikai David
Martina Caldera 
Za’niyah Williams 
Ke’Yahonna Ston
Amelia Furniss Leonhart 
Nikki Turrietta 
Amarey Lej (Myara)
Duval Princess 
Destinee Lashaee 
Matthew Angelo Spampinato 
Naomie Skinner
Cypress Ramos 
Paloma Vazquez 
Brent Wood 
Milo Winslow
Kathryn Newhouse 
Elise Malary 
Tatiana Labelle (“Tee Tee”)
Quinn Mowrer Gustin 
Kesha Webster 
Kai Khan 
Miia Love Parker
Ariyanna Mitchell 
Fern Feather 
Ace Scott 
Kenna Leigh Gillock
Asher Garcia 
Ray Muscat 
Ruby Taverner 
Michelle S Tarrio
Sasha Mason 
Nedra Sequence Morris (“Sequence”) 
Maddie Hoffman
Maddie Dickens 
DeeDee Hall 
Chanelika Y’Ella Dior Hemingway (“Sid”)
Rexy Que 
Paris Rich 
Brazil Johnson 
Shawmayné McClam
Kitty Monroe 
Cherry Bush 
Jasper Aaron Lynch 
Jimmie “Jay” Lee
Martasia Richmond 
Toi Davis 
Keshia Chanel Geter
Hayden Nevah Davis 
Kamila Marie Swann (“Dee Dee”, “Kandii Redd”)
Marisela Castro
Kimbella Kimble 
Acey D. Morrison 
Dede Ricks
Regina Allen (“Mya”) 
Semaj Sincere Billingslea 
Serena Brenneman
We speak your names today.
As we close I want y’all to love on those who love you. We are in the midst of holiday season and its not an easy time for many. Show kindness. Give grace. Hug on the ones you love okay. Till next week, peace.
Sources
Gunman kills 5 at LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs before patrons confront and stop him, police say
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/20/us/colorado-springs-shooting-gay-nightclub/index.htm
What we know about Anderson Lee Aldrich, the alleged Colorado Springs Club Q shooter
https://www.denverpost.com/2022/11/20/anderson-lee-aldrich-colorado-springs-shooter-club-q/
Trans Awareness Month
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckg1u1YPa29/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
