SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A deadly shooting attack at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs has sent shockwaves across the country, Sacramento included.
In Sacramento’s Lavender District, a group lit candles in a vigil outside of the Sacramento LGBT Community Center.
The deadly shooting at Club Q claimed five lives just as Sunday marks Trans Day of Remembrance. This year alone, at least 32 transgender people have been killed, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. 2021 marked the deadliest year for trans and non-gender conforming people on record. At least one of the victims in the Colorado Springs shooting identified as transgender.
In downtown Sacramento, organizers of the monthly Queer City social events say they pushed through their anger and sadness to go on with their planned event Sunday night at Solomon's. Daisha and Nikki Abeleda said they could not let fear and darkness shut down their planned event to honor and remember trans lives.
At the event, they set up a community altar where people could leave messages of love and flowers to victims of the Club Q nightclub shooting, and any transgender or non-gender-conforming loved ones in their lives.
Daisha said she wanted to send a message to attendees, “To not let situations like this deter you from walking and living in your truth."
"This is what society wants us to feel is fear, and we are not fearful. We are fearless,” said Daisha.
Daisha says the shooting is a painful reminder of the dangers LGBTQ community members have faced throughout history, but she refuses to hold on to pain and suffering.
“It is tragic, but we can find happiness and strength and community in this," said Daisha.
The trans remembrance event serves a creative, social space.
“We come together to release and process grief, to dance, to be artistic in every way we can to show this is who our community is," said Daisha.
Democratic state Senator Scott Weiner is a leader in the LGBTQ caucus. He says rhetoric by some national Republican leaders and their supporters have led to violence.
“We have social media platforms that allow us to be called predators, and quote-unquote groomers, which is a way of saying we’re pedophiles," said Weiner.
“Language is so powerful, especially with positionality," Abeleda said.
"With the position that they are in, people listen to them, people hear them, and influence them. Be mindful of language and how it affects a community, and that sometimes the language they use is dehumanizing, so it’s important to remember that we’re people.”
Sorting through feelings of grief, anger and frustration following the shooting, host Abeleda says simply existing as a queer person of color in itself is a form of resistance.
“Anybody who shows up here, it’s a form of resistance just because you know there’s a lot of fear out there because of safety, and I think that people showing up here today is showing up for the community and a form of healing," said Abeleda.
WATCH ALSO:
