Candlelight Vigil Scheduled for Club Q Victims

Desert Stonewall Democrats to Hold Candlelight Vigil for Club Q Victims

Desert Stonewall Democrats will hold a candlelight vigil to honor and remember the five people killed and 25 wounded in the attack, late Saturday, Nov. 19 at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colo, by a gunman armed with an AR-15 style weapon.

Local officials told The Associated Press that the suspect used an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle in the attack, and the assault ended when a patron at the LGBTQ club grabbed the shooter’s other firearm, a handgun, and hit him with it, then pinned him on the ground until police arrived.

The vigil will be held at 4:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 27 on Arenas Road (between Hunters and Blackbook) in Palm Springs.

Speakers include:

• Palm Springs Mayor Lisa Middleton
• Palm Springs Mayor Pro Tem Grace Garner
• Palm Desert Councilmember Karina Quintanilla
• Palm Springs Councilmember-Elect Ron deHarte
• Palm Springs Human Rights Commission Chair Hugo Loyola

Others are also on deck to speak.

With the Pulse Nightclub massacre in June 2016 still fresh in our memories and a rising tide of anti-drag queen rhetoric, anti-transgender legislation and more broadly anti-LGBTQ sentiment; with far-right forums describing Pride marches as satanic rituals, and each energizing extremists toward expressions of denunciation, our community is under attack by conservatives and extremist far-right and militia groups.

Thanksgiving week has so far seen 22 people killed and 44 injured by guns. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been seven mass shootings in the US in as many days.

By the archive’s definition, there have been 606 mass shootings in the US this year. That means that 2022 is shaping up to be one of the worst years in recent memory, on a par or exceeding the bloodletting of 2020 which recorded 610 such incidents and last year which saw 690.

While we honor the Club Q victims, our vigil is also to mourn the needless loss of life brought about by the gun lobby and government representatives unwilling to fight for our safety or actively promoting the hate, Stonewall leaders said. The public is encouraged to attend the vigil.