Lifelong Colorado Springs resident Tiana Nicole Dykes told DailyExpertNews she knows people who were killed and seriously injured in the shooting.
Dykes said the shock is getting worse. She called Club Q “a second home full of chosen family.”
“I’m there every other week, if not every week. This space means everything to me. The energy, the people, the message. It’s a great place that didn’t deserve this tragedy,” Dykes told DailyExpertNews.
She said the mass shooting, which left at least five dead and 25 injured, is very unnerving for the LGBTQ community.
“Something like a mass shooting at an LGBT+ safe space is unimaginably harmful. There are feelings of disrespect, disbelief and just pure shock,” she told DailyExpertNews. “No one ever thinks it will happen to them, and sometimes it does.”
Police say it is too early to determine whether the Club Q shooting was a hate crime, but investigators will look into that possibility as they continue their investigation.
A safe haven: Tim Curran, an editor for DailyExpertNews’s “Early Start,” visits Club Q with his friend when he visits his family in Colorado Springs.
Curran, who hasn’t been to the club since the pandemic, describes Club Q as one of the few safe spaces for the LGBTQ community in a city where they don’t always feel welcome.
“It’s a very warm, welcoming space, definitely a big step forward for diversity in the Springs,” Curran told DailyExpertNews. “Club Q has a very tight-knit community because it’s by far the most conservative, big city in Colorado. There’s a lot of free-floating homophobia in the city.”
But once customers step inside, everything disappears, at least for a few hours of music and dancing, says Curran. Visitors and regulars can be found every evening from Wednesday through Sunday, either lounging at the bar, laughing with friends at the tables or straight onto the dance floor.
Club Q, which Curran describes as a “chill gay bar in a small town where everyone knows everyone else,” caters to a racially diverse crowd — including college kids, military personnel, and older members of the community.
Because there is a scarcity of LGBTQ spaces for community members in the Springs, according to Curran, Club Q serves as a “welcoming, open, and helpful space” by also hosting regular events for all ages, such as brunches and holiday dinners.