Survivors of mass shootings targeting LGBTQ nightclubs described the violence and criticized political rhetoric in a congressional hearing yesterday.
The hearing by the U.S. House Oversight Committee was to explore anti-LGBTQ violence.
Matthew Haynes is owner of the Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where five people were killed and 22 wounded in a mass shooting last month. He said at the hearing,
We are being slaughtered and dehumanized across this country, in communities you took oaths to protect. LGBTQ issues are not political issues. They are not lifestyles. They are not beliefs or choices. They are basic human rights.”
Haynes read two messages he received to illustrate the amount of anti-LGBTQ hate that Club Q is receiving after the mass shooting,
I woke up to the wonderful news that five mentally unstable faggots and lesbians and 18 injured. The only thing I’m mad about is that the faggots had courage to subdue the wonderful killer. I hope more shootings happen. Have a blessed day.”
Another hateful message read,
The shooter was doing God’s work. Five less faggots. Not enough. Those that stopped him are the devil. All gays should die.”
Haynes testified that he and his husband were at the signing ceremony for the Respect for Marriage Act at the White House on Tuesday. He said,
And while the protections for marriages like my own were signed into federal law. I could not help but reflect that 169 members of Congress voted against that bill.
One hundred sixty-nine of your colleagues, hiding behind excuses and schematics and other reasons, sent a message to me and the entire community that you do not respect my marriage.
And through your inaction and your vote, you, as a leader, send the clear message it is OK not to respect the basic human rights of loving who you love, and it is OK to disrespect and not support our marriages.”
Michael Anderson told lawmakers he was bartending at Club Q, when the gunman entered the nightclub and began shooting,
I saw my friend lying on the floor, bleeding out, knowing there was little to no chance of surviving that bullet wound. I had to tell him goodbye while I continued to fear for my life, not knowing if the attack was truly over.”
Anderson voiced his frustration with GOP lawmakers and the perpetuation of anti-LGBTQ hatred,
To the politicians and activists who accuse LGBTQ people of grooming children and being abusers, shame on you. As leaders of our country, it is your obligation to represent all of us, not just the ones you happen to agree with.
Hate speech turns into hate actions, and actions based on hate almost took my life from me at 25 years old. I beg you all to consider your words before you speak them, for someone may use those words to justify action. Action that may take someone’s life.”
According to Reuters,
Experts on LGBTQ issues told the panel that the attack at Club Q and other acts of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans in recent years have been fueled by state legislation that they said further marginalized the community.
They cited a 2016 bill in North Carolina that required transgender individuals to use restrooms, changing rooms and showers that corresponded to the sex on their birth certificates and legislation passed in Florida last year nicknamed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill which barred classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for many young students.
President Biden signed a gun-safety bill into law in June in the wake of mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, but anti-gun violence activists say more needs to be done.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 628 mass shootings across the U.S. so far this year.
Brandon Wolf, an activist and survivor of the 2016 Pulse shooting where 49 people were killed and 69 wounded, told the hearing,
We just want to live. Is that so much to ask?”
According to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, LGBTQ people are nearly four times as likely than non-LGBT people to be the victims of violent crime.
(Photos, YouTube; via Reuters, Advocate)
