Members of Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ+ community gathered with friends and allies to march in solidarity Saturday for those affected by the mass shooting at Club Q. The march, organized by Armed with Love, started at the Palmer Park Community Playground and ended at Club Q.

Dozens of members of Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ+ community gathered with friends and allies for a rally and solidarity march at Palmer Park on Saturday.

The event, organized by the advocacy group Armed With Love, comes on the heels of Friday’s candlelight vigil at Club Q in honor of the victims of last Saturday’s mass shooting. But where Friday’s event was quiet and somber, the vibe at the rally was much more celebratory. Co-organizer Jax Dickinson said that was the entire point of the rally.

“We are not going to settle for our tragedies, in the news, being the only thing people get to hear about us,” said Dickinson, whose pronouns are they/them. “They should be celebrating our joy with us.”

While law enforcement is still investigating the motive for the attack that killed five people and wounded 17 others at the club last week, many members of the LGBTQ+ community see it as a direct attack against a group of people who simply want to live their lives the way they choose, according to Dickinson.

“Some people are threatened by our joy, by our existence,” they said. “We are not going to package things up nicely for everyone so they can’t see us in the amazing brightness of living our lives.”

Brightness was on full display at Palmer Park on Saturday afternoon. Many revelers turned out in multicolor outfits, carried rainbow umbrellas, displayed vivid Pride signs, and sported Technicolor hair.

For some, it was a reunion of sorts. Many people cried out in joyful recognition as they ran into acquaintances they had not seen since the Pride Parade in July.

Vinny VenEros, a former Club Q employee, drove 6½ hours from Hastings, Neb., for the rally and march.

“It was a long drive,” said VenEros, whose wife made the road trip with him. “But it was worth it.”

Joy Whitcomb, a self-described “relatively late-in-life lesbian,” said she had been too emotionally overwrought to attend any memorial events before Saturday.

“But I felt like I really needed to be here,” Whitcomb said. “This (expletive) has to stop.”

The march, which took the group from Palmer Park to the Club Q parking lot, is one of several planned events that will take place in the coming weeks, according to co-organizer Cole Danielson.

“The emotions we felt after the shooting, the solidarity we felt – we can’t let it fizzle out,” Danielson said. “We have to take action.”

Several survivors of the shooting have been afraid to go out in public, Danielson said. The rally was, among other things, a statement from a community that refuses to slink into the shadows when confronted by violence.

“We need to let (the survivors) know that we’re here for them, and that we stand up for our own,” Danielson said.

Relegation to so-called “safe spaces” is no longer enough for the LGBTQ+ community, Dickinson said. Mere tolerance is not enough. 

“We need to be safe walking the streets in our neighborhoods, in our communities,” they said. “We are everywhere, and everywhere should be for us.”

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