Below you will find contact information and answers to a candidate questionnaire from The Gazette. It also causes disconnection and brokenness within. The SPLC used that radical Islamic terrorist attack to demonize conservative Christians. Law enforcement agencies have not revealed Anderson Lee Aldrichs alleged motive, but the clubs owners and LGBT+ advocates have condemned a surge of inflammatory anti-gay and anti-trans rhetoric and politicised harassment from right-wing and religious figures and Republican officials in the weeks and months that preceded the attack. Earlier this month, a gunman opened fire at Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing five and injuring 25 others. We still have to live with the nightmares, the PTSD, Priester-Collins explained. In 2018, after three Black trans women were fatally shot in three separate instances in Jacksonville, Florida, the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office repeatedly refused to refer to the victims by their correct names and pronouns, ProPublica reported. She said shes seen and heard hateful anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from influential figures in Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family is a $100 million-a-year-operation dedicated to family and moral values. We do. WATCH: Why far-right groups are increasingly targeting the LGBTQ community. The memorials this week attracted a wave of visitors: crowds of mourners clutching flowers, throngs of television crews and also a church group whose volunteers set up a tent and passed out cookies, coffee and water. Still, he noted signs that the city was more culturally conservative than others of similar size and much of Colorado: Colorado Springs is kind of an outlier, he said. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. The Orange County Sheriffs Department did not immediately respond to CNNs request for comment on their handling of Gardens case. Joines also testified that the suspect had used anti-gay slurs in the past, calling their apartment property manager a "faggot" after they had an argument over the suspect not getting their mail. Its a place full of art shops and breweries; megachurches and military bases; a liberal arts college and the Air Force Academy. Published With a growing and diversifying population, the city nestled at the foothills of the Rockies is a patchwork of disparate social and cultural fabrics. Colorado Springs voted 3 to 1 in favor of Amendment 2, helping make its narrow statewide victory possible. Police did not announce the Club Q shooting suspects motive, but they face five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, court records show. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. After the shooting, Focus on the Family's president, Jim Daly, said that like the rest of the community he was mourning the tragedy. Wilson does not mention that Gordon Klingenschmitt, who runs the Pray in Jesus Name Project, condemned the shooting. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Now five are dead, at least 25 are injured, and an unknown number are traumatized for life by an act of violence primed by conspiracy thinking and hateful propaganda, Wilson concludes. In the 1990s, Colorado Springss Focus on the Family led the fundamentalist charge in support of Amendment 2, a Colorado ballot measure that banned municipalities from including LGBTQ people in their anti-discrimination policies. At a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors for the first time provided evidence related to why they charged 22-year-old Anderson Aldrich with hate crimes as well as murder in the Nov. 19, 2022, shooting at Club Q. Focus on the Family is an evangelical organization founded in California in 1977. The organization states on its website that it believes marriage is between a man and a woman, and in 2014 spoke out against adding sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to non-discrimination laws, citing concerns about conflicts with religious liberties. WebFocus on the Family - Visit Colorado Springs Home Focus on the Family 8605 Explorer Dr | Colorado Springs, CO | 80920 Main: (719) 531-3400 Map Website Overview Focus on the Family welcomes visitors to the ministry's Welcome Center in Colorado Springs. Metz reported from Salt Lake City. It can also perpetuate violence against LGBTQ people and reinforce the belief that trans peoples identities are not legitimate. The idea of latching onto a city with a bright future is part of what drew Michael Anderson, a bartender at Club Q who survived last weekends shooting, to move here. Someone spray-painted the sign in front of the Tyler O'Neil Five lives taken.". Located in the shadow of the southern Rocky Mountains, the Colorado city of nearly 500,000 residents is home to five nearby military bases and the staunchly anti Learn more about Willis here. In the 1990s, the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family advocated to amend the Colorado Springs Constitution to make it illegal to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. However, these laws and policies allow dangerous individuals open admission to public accommodations. These are the victims of the Colorado club shooting. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Vandals defaced a sign outside a local Christian ministry Thursday, accusing the organization of complicity in the horrific massacre at an LGBTQ+ nightclub. AP writers Brittany Peterson and Jesse Bedayn in Colorado Springs contributed. But in the face of anti-LGBTQ discrimination and hostility, many Colorado Springs residents established LGBTQ funds and advocacy groups, Colorado Springs Indy columnist Brandon Flanery wrote in 2020. 5 hospitalized following a shooting on east, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Get to know all 17 Denver mayor candidates , 5 hospitalized following a shooting on east side of Colorado Springs Tuesday evening, Pueblo County deputies shoot, kill man after shots fired near elementary school, Aurora police ask for publics help in identifying suspects in Christmas Eve double homicide, Denver gang member gave 14-year-old permission to open fire on woman with AR-15 after fender-bender, DA alleges, Letters: Proposed age limit for gun ownership in Colorado doesnt make sense, Sheriff: Armed suspect in barricade incident in El Paso County is shot, hospitalized, Off-duty Denver police officer hits, kills man walking on road, Three Summit School District staffers and a former employee face failure to report child abuse investigation, Denver just got a direct flight to this Caribbean island known for music history and vegetarian cooking, Coloradans may have another chance to see the northern lights Monday night, Feds sue water company for rupture damaging Rocky Mountain National Park -- again, Price of gas in Colorado has risen 51% since Suncor's refinery shutdown in late December. Jessy Smith Cruz embraces Jadzia Dax McClendon in Colorado Springs on Sunday. Update 11/28/2022, 10:23 a.m. Richard Fierro speaks during a news conference outside his Colorado Springs home on Monday, November 21. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio of Florida. Outside the scene of a shooting at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs in 2015. People gather at a makeshift memorial near the Club Q nightclub on Monday. Discovery Company. In recent decades the population has almost doubled to 480,000 people. Thursday evening, the writing was covered with a trash-bag-like material, but it blew off in the wind. Focus on the Family is privileged to be one of many organizations in our city positioned to help and support the needs of struggling individuals and families. It is unclear if anyone has died as a result of the shooting or if there are more victims involved. Club Q had been considered a safe haven for LGBTQ people in the conservative community of Colorado Springs. In 2019, Brandon Ragan, one of the departments LGBTQ liaisons, told WMFE, Orlandos public radio station, that the department had made mistakes in its investigation into Gardens death and would learn from them going forward. Ron DeSantis championed and later signed a bill this year that earned the nickname Dont Say Gay, because it banned some public school teachers from discussing sexuality or gender identity with elementary school students. "I mean, there's a hell of a lot more than 5 deaths caused by focus on the family," one user tweeted. Not for the "stupid price" of $150 an acre foot. @Tyler2ONeil, Tyler O'Neil is managing editor of The Daily Signal and the author of "Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center.". Their blood is on your hands. Alex Clemons and his daughter Epifania pay their respects at a makeshift memorial near Club Q on Sunday. She testified that she believes the suspect modeled the Club Q shooting after the shootings they posted on their neo-Nazi website. Hours & Location Hours: Mon Fri : 9am 5:30pm Sat: 9am 5pm Closed Sunday Address: 8685 Explorer Drive Colorado Springs, CO 80920-1051 Phone: (719)-531-3464 E-mail: Bookstore.Associate@fotf.org Available Products Adventures in The Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family is a proponent of family and moral values. Despite the suspects identifying as nonbinary and going by Mx. Then get The Morning Bell, an early morning edition of the days most important political news, conservative commentary and original reporting from a team committed to following the truth no matter where it leads. This can make it difficult to discern whether police and media are using the right terms to describe them. Referring to a trans person by a name they no longer use is often known as deadnaming. A man was sentenced in 2020 for the murder of one woman, but the other two deaths have not been solved. People visit a makeshift memorial Monday on a corner near the site of the mass shooting. Colorado Springs, a city of about 480,000 located 70 miles south of Denver, is home to the U.S. Air Force Academy, as well as Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical Christian ministry. Stephen Groves, Associated Press. Its headquarters have been in Colorado Springs since 1991. In a press conference earlier this week, Vasquez said he wanted to identify the victims how they identified themselves, and how their families have loved and identified them.. Evidence markers are placed where a victim was found near Club Q. Paige H., Tyler Johnston, Keenan Mestas-Holmes and Altas Pretzeus embrace while paying their respects at a memorial in Colorado Springs on Sunday. Over the last several decades, Focus on the Family which is based in Colorado Springs has developed into a nationally recognised, well-financed and influential conservative Christian ministry that has lobbied against LGBT+ rights and characterised LGBT+ identities as a particularly evil lie of Satan.. For others, the shocking act of violence in a space considered an LGBTQ refuge shattered a sense of optimism pervading everywhere from the citys revitalized downtown to the sprawling subdivisions on its outskirts. Five lives taken, reads the graffiti on the brick Focus on the Family sign, which outside its facility off Briargate Parkway in north Colorado Springs. 1996 - 2023 NewsHour Productions LLC. The families of the five individuals killed in Saturday nights senseless attack are in our prayers. We urge everyone to pray for peace and we also pray for the individual or group responsible for this mischievous and unwarranted defacing of our ministrys property.. broadcast ministry CNNs Alaa Elassar, Elizabeth Wolfe and Theresa Waldrop contributed to this report. The alleged shooter, whose defense attorneys have said uses they/them pronouns, ran a website and posted several videos of other mass shootings, including ones at synagogues and mosques mainly in Europe, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department's Rebecca Joines, the lead detective on the case. The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. The families of the five individuals killed in Saturday nights senseless attack are in our prayers. We provide help and resources for couples to build healthy marriages that COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Phylisha Priester-Collins, her daughter and a friend were inside Club Q when gunfire interrupted their lives and (In a Monday press conference identifying the victims, department representatives refrained from using gender-specific pronouns to describe the suspect. For some, merely seeing police being careful to refer to the victims using their correct pronouns this week signaled a seismic change. Mike Trout, a senior vice president for Focus on the Family, said none of the hostages was seriously injured. But last weekends shooting has raised uneasy questions about the lasting legacy of cultural conflicts that caught fire decades ago and gave Colorado Springs a reputation as a cauldron of religion-infused conservatism, where LGBTQ people didnt fit in with the most vocal community leaders idea of family values. Focus on the Family President Jim Daly condemned the shooting on the day it occurred. Joe Biden Turns Americas Government Into Wokeness Inc. Anderson Lee Aldrich in court documents, many on the Left blamed conservatives and Christians for the attack, and vandals targeted one prominent conservative Christian group in the city. At a hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors for the first time provided evidence related to why they charged the 22-year-old suspect with hate crimes as well as murder in the shooting at Club Q. Joines also said that the suspect sent a photo of a rifle scope over a Pride parade to someone else over Discord. The nonprofit organization has an evangelical focus. The retired Army major was one of the men who. A deranged would-be terrorist used the SPLCs hate map to target the conservative Christian group Family Research Council in 2012, intending to shoot everyone in the building and smear a Chick-fil-A sandwich in the face of each of his victims. After the shooting, Joines said, she tried to interview the suspect at the hospital and they cried and asked if anybody was hurt. Ron DeSantis; and state laws protecting children from controversial transgender medical interventions, Wilson turns to address Anti-LGBTQ Hate in Colorado. He claims that far-right figures actively spread smears, conspiracy theories, and falsehoods about LGBTQ people in the months leading up to Saturdays mass shooting.. We urge everyone to pray for peace and we also pray for the individual or group responsible for this mischievous and unwarranted defacing of our ministrys property.. He said the horrific event exposes the evil and wickedness inside the human heart. The suspect accused of killing five people in an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs ran a neo-Nazi website and used anti-gay slurs, a police detective testified on Wednesday. Not for the "stupid price" of $150 an acre foot. We recognize the community is hurting in the aftermath of the reckless and violent actions of a very disturbed individual, part of a statement from Focus on the Family President Jim Daly reads. After the shooting, Focus on the Familys president, Jim Daly, said that like the rest of the community he was mourning the tragedy. The influx of evangelical groups decades ago was at least in part spurred by efforts from the citys economic development arm to offer financial incentives to lure nonprofits. / But as the praying carried on and the woman urged May and her friend to turn to God, she felt as if praying had turned into preying. People hold a vigil at a makeshift memorial near the Club Q nightclub on November 20, 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This is a time for prayer, grieving and healing, not vandalism and the spreading of hate, Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, said in a statement shared with The Independent. It is no accident that this happened in Colorado Springs, a city steeped in homophobia, transphobia, and white supremacy.. Focus on the Family is privileged to be one of many organizations in our city positioned to help and support the needs of struggling individuals and families, he Have an opinion about this article? Will that affect potential hate crime charges? / Campaign phone number: 719-210-1607. Candidate name: Tom Strand. On Wednesday, defense attorneys brought up the suspect's gender identity and sexuality, saying that they told James, "My mom will not accept me because I'm gay, you're all the same.". When you pump that demoralizing rhetoric into the atmosphere, when you supercharge the political environment to make it as hostile as possible toward LGBTQ people, someone has to pay the price, he told CNNs Jim Acosta on Sunday. David Zalubowski / AP. KRDO NewsChannel 13 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation. A person pauses to pay respects at a makeshift memorial in November 2022, near Club Q. 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