Members of Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ community and their supporters called on city leaders to help ensure the town is safe for them. 

Several people said during Tuesday’s meeting and in interviews that they had seen and experienced discrimination and hateful remarks in town before the shooting at Club Q on Saturday. 

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Recently elected state Rep. Stephanie Vigil, D-Colorado Springs, said she was horrified by the violence but not surprised. 

“We have warned over and over that hateful rhetoric, false and spiteful rhetoric and dehumanizing language is all a precursor for violence,” said Vigil, a member of the LGBTQ community. 

Angelica Givler, a teacher with a doctorate, said members of local school boards have been disparaging toward LGBTQ students, particularly the transgender community, and that needs to stop. 

“We are not allowing our schools to be safe spaces,” she said. 

Other LGBTQ residents explained in interviews how they had been treated unfairly. For example, Erin Birdsong said she experienced weird looks, feeling unsafe, and being ostracized at work. She said she had been welcomed into churches, only to be told members expected her to change her sexual orientation. In another case, Dani Rose said she had been fired from tattoo shops for talking about LGBTQ issues.

Birdsong said the community needs to come together and offer safe spaces to the community. 

“We need our politicians to spread love, to unify rather than separate and divide,” Birdsong said. 

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Shawna Kemppainen, executive director of The PLACE, called on city leaders and residents to embrace their own children who come out as members of the LGBTQ community, a step that could prevent youth suicide and homelessness and make a difference. The PLACE serves homeless youth. 

Embracing children, in the way Richard Fierro, the man who stopped the Club Q shooter, embraced his daughter’s boyfriend, would be a form of heroism, she said. 

“Our youth deserve safety. Our youth deserve a place to belong,” she said.

Councilwoman Nancy Henjum said while Colorado Springs is not immune to hate, she had seen the community come together in the last few days.  

“Our love is much greater than our hate. I have seen it. I have witnessed it,” she said. 

Yet that does not mean the community may not need to have hard conversations about issues such as gun violence and local boards, she said. 

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