By Drew Marina
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LAKE OSWEGO Oregon (KPTV) — The capturing at Membership Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado has devastated LGBTQIA+ communities throughout the nation, together with within the Portland metropolitan space.
Shannon Walton-Clark mentioned that irrespective of how far Colorado Springs is from Oregon, this tragedy struck too near dwelling.
“I broke down,” Walton-Clark mentioned. “As a queer and non-binary individual married to a queer and genderqueer individual, our dwelling simply fell aside.”
Walton-Clark mentioned they keep in mind going to golf equipment and bars once they have been in faculty.
“That was the primary place I might put on a tie as a result of it was the one place I felt comfy going with my companion, who’s now my spouse, in garments that made me really feel comfy,” they mentioned. “Each time this occurs, I really feel prefer it may have been considered one of us.”
Peren Tiemann agreed.
“This does not simply finish with the Colorado neighborhood, it is a part of our neighborhood throughout the nation,” he mentioned.
Tiemann is a member of College students Demand Motion. Helped manage a rally and vigil for the neighborhood to mourn the lives misplaced to gun violence in Colorado and Virginia this week and to name on lawmakers to create and implement gun laws that stops shootings like these from occurring once more .
“As a member of the queer neighborhood, particularly as a teen, this is essential to me as a result of it exhibits our neighborhood that we aren’t secure even in our most secure locations and that gun violence can attain us irrespective of the place and that’s not acceptable. . Tiemann mentioned.
US Consultant-elect Andrea Salinas, who represents Lake Oswego in District 6, mentioned she is aware of full nicely how essential this difficulty is and mentioned tragedies like this are the rationale she does what she does: deal with to make a distinction in troublesome instances.
“As a mum or dad of a queer scholar at LO Excessive College, it is scary,” she instructed the gang, holding again tears. “We should not hold having to come back collectively at these vigils as a result of there are answers. These crimson flag legal guidelines may work. If the sheriffs hadn’t ignored the Colorado sheriffs, these crimson flag legal guidelines would have labored.”
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