Nic Grzecka, right, co-owner of Club Q, hugs a supporter after a historic 25-foot pride flag was unfurled to cover the outside of City Hall to mark the weekend mass attack at the gay nightclub Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The flag, known as Section 93 of the Sea to Sea Flag, is on loan for two weeks in Colorado Springs from the Sacred Cloth Project. The co-owner of the Colorado Springs gay nightclub where a gunman turned a drag queen’s birthday party into a massacre said he believes the shooting that killed five people and wounded 17 is a reflection of anti-LGBTQ sentiment that has evolved from prejudice to incitement. Nic Grzecka’s voice was tinged with exhaustion as he spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday night in some of his first comments since Saturday night’s attack at Club Q, a venue that Grzecka helped create as an enclave that supported the community LGBTQ in Colorado Springs with a conservative bent. . Authorities have not said why the suspect opened fire at the club before being subdued by patrons, but they are facing hate crime charges. The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, has not made a statement or spoken about the incident. Grzecka said he believes the targeting of a drag queen event is linked to the art form being cast in a false light in recent months by right-wing activists and politicians who protest the “sexualization” or “grooming” of children. Although general acceptance of the LGBTQ community has grown, this new dynamic has fostered a dangerous climate, he said. “It’s different to walk down the street holding my friend’s hand and get spat on (as opposed to) a politician who associates a drag queen with his children’s groomer,” Grzecka said. “I’d rather be spat on in the street than Hate gets as bad as we are today.” Earlier this year, Florida’s Republican-dominated legislature passed a bill banning teachers from discussing gender identity or sexual orientation with younger students. A month later, reports of “pedophiles” and “treatments” in relation to LGBTQ people increased by 400%, according to a report by the Human Rights Campaign. “To lie about our community and make them out to be something they’re not creates a different type of hate,” Gretschka said. Grzecka, who started mopping floors and bartending at Club Q in 2003, a year after it opened, said he hopes to channel his grief and anger into rebuilding the support system for Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ community that only Club Q had provided. City and state officials have offered support, and President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden reached out to Gretschka and co-owner Matthew Haynes on Thursday to express their condolences and reiterate their support for the community, as well as their commitment to stand up against hate and gun violence. Club Q opened after the only other gay bar in Colorado Springs at the time closed, Grzecka said, describing that era as an evolution of gay bars. Decades ago, dark hole-in-the-wall venues were largely reserved for finding a hookup or a date. But once the Internet offered anonymous ways to find love online, bars turned into well-lit, clean, smoke-free places to hang out with friends, and Club Q was at the forefront of that transition, Grzecka said. Once he became co-owner in 2014, Grzecka helped transform Club Q into not just a nightclub but a community center — a platform to create a “chosen family” for LGBTQ people, especially those who are estranged from their families . Drag queen bingo nights, Friendsgiving and Christmas dinners and birthday parties became staples of Club Q which was open 365 days a year. In the wake of the shooting, Grzecka and other community leaders hope to fill the void left by the desecration of Club Q. “When that system goes away, you realize how much more the bar really offered,” said Justin Burns, Pikes Peak Pride organizer. “Those who may or may not have been part of the Club Q family, where are they going?” Burns said the shooting pulled back the curtain on a broader lack of resources for LGBTQ adults in Colorado Springs. Burns, Grzecka and others are working with national organizations to do a community needs assessment as they develop a plan to provide a strong support network. Grzecka seeks to rebuild the “culture of love” and support necessary to “make sure this tragedy turns into the best thing it can be for the city.” That started Thursday night when Club Q’s 10th anniversary Friendsgiving was held at the non-denominational Pikes Peak Metropolitan Community Church. Survivors, community members, friends and family shared donated meals under strings of lights near rainbow balloon towers. Hosted by the LGBTQ group United Court of Pikes Peak Empire, the dinner’s bright atmosphere was enduring. People smiled, hugged each other and told stories from the podium about those who lost their lives. “Everybody needs the community,” Grzecka said. Earlier that day at the memorial, a trickle of people walked slowly along the wall of flowers and candles that had burned out. “I hope you dance,” someone wrote to victim Ashley Paugh on one of five white crosses affixed with wooden hearts bearing the names of those who had died and bearing notes written by mourners. A message was written on a concrete barrier: “Please listen to our calls. Protect us, our home.”
