Last Updated on November 28, 2023 by Kittredge Cherry
Five people were killed in a mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Nov. 19-20, 2022.
Police identified the dead as Daniel Davis Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Ashley Paugh, 35; Derrick Rump, 38; Raymond Green Vance, 22. At least 18 others were injured by gunfire before Club Q patrons tackled and stopped the gunman.
The shooting happened on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance, and Club Q was hosting a drag performance that night. Two of the dead identified as transgender. The deadly attack came at a time when conservative U.S. politicians were ramping up anti-transgender rhetoric.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, age 22, pled guilty to the shooting on June 26, 2023, and was sentenced to five consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 2,211 years. This included pleading no contest to two counts of bias-motivated (hate) crimes. Adding complexity to the situation, Aldrich’s attorney said that the shooter is non-binary, uses “they/them” pronouns, and prefers to be addressed as “Mx. Aldrich.”
Icon honors Club Q victim Daniel Aston
Among those shot dead was Daniel Aston, a transgender man who worked at Club Q as a bartender and entertainer. He is memorialized in an icon from the Queer Saints Project by Jason Tseng, a Chinese American non-binary illustrator based in New York City. Tseng connected Aston as a transgender man and the crucified Christ when he posted a description of the icon:
“Naked torso with his top surgery scars displayed without shame or embarrassment—triumphant yet wounded. I couldn’t help but see the stigmata—miraculous embodiments of Christ’s bodily wounds he suffered during the crucifixion—in Daniel’s body… wounds that contributed to a transformation, both physical and spiritual.”
Aston’s halo is filled with Colorado blue columbine, the state flower of Colorado. The Queer Saints Project honors queer ancestors as modern-day saints of the LGBTQ movement. The series began when Judson Memorial Church commissioned Tseng to create icons of LGBTQ figures to carry in the Queer Liberation March. Tseng honors their contributions and celebrate their inherent divinity by combining images of nature, Christian sacred iconography, and historical photography. The collection continues to grow as Tseng’s artistry “canonizes” more queer saints.
Club Q martyrs remembered in art and prayers
The five Club Q martyrs stand out like stars in the night sky with rainbow halos in a memorial artwork by North Carolina artist Jeremy Whitner. He is a queer Christian iconographer in process for ministry with the Disciples of Christ. He attends Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. His icons appear frequently on Q Spirit and are available at Whitner’s Fine Art America shop.
“The Martyrs of Club Q” by Jeremy Whitner
Martyrs are those killed for a cause. May the souls of those killed at Club Q be welcomed to heaven by God and all the saints, including the LGBTQ saints, and by history’s many queer martyrs who were killed for their sexual orientation or gender expression.
These lines were added to Q Spirit’s Litany of Queer Saints:
Martyrs of the Club Q shooting in Colorado, who died when gunfire shattered love and dancing, pray for us.
May your memories be a powerful call to action.
On Twitter a pastor responded to the Club Q murders by tweeting the entire Litany of Queer Saints, broken down into 39 short tweets. Matt Nightingale, pastor of The Quest, a progressive church in Novato, California, tweeted them with the comment, “Take a moment, maybe light a candle, and scroll through these names. We are not alone, friends. We are stronger together, and we are surrounded by a great rainbow-tinged cloud of witnesses. 🙏🏼❤️🏳️🌈 .”
The litany lit up Twitter with “likes” and responses such as: “I feel like I might just spend today reading @JesusInLoveBlog’s Litany of Queer Saints over and over. 😢”
The shooting also inspired a potent prayer by Ashley Horan, organizing strategy director at Side With Love, a public advocacy campaign sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association. “A Queer Prayer after Colorado Springs” by Horan includes these lines:
May deep rest be the companion of your grief.
And, beloveds, remember:
All of us–
the high femmes, the faeries, the twinks, the gender transgressors, the panromantics,
the dykes, the bears, the studs, the butches, the homos, the androgynes,
the aces, the demibois, the zaddies, the graysexuals, the baby queers –
all the delicious, unexpected, gorgeously beloved incarnations of us –
we are made from stardust and and leather and honey
and Love.
Other acts of violence and harassment at LGBTQ bars
Previous mass murders of LGBTQ people occurred at LGBTQ bars during Pride Month: The Pulse massacre in Orlando, Florida, which killed 49 people on June 12, 2016, and the UpStairs Lounge arson fire, which killed 32 people in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 24, 1973.
Sadly both of these mass murders came during LGBTQ Pride Month, which marks the 1969 Stonewall rebellion at another gay bar: the Stonewall Inn in New York City.
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Top image credit:
“St. Daniel Aston” by Jason Tseng
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This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBT and queer martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.
This article was originally published on Q Spirit on Dec. 7, 2022, and was most recently updated on Nov. 17, 2023.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.
