Our hearts are in Colorado Springs where 5 LGBTQ patrons lost their lives in a mass shooting & we honor our trans siblings we’ve lost this year – Monday, November 21, 2022

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&notif_id=1668614274021527&notif_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=