Club Q announced plans Monday to reopen this fall with enhanced security measures and a permanent tribute to the victims of the shooting there.
The Colorado Springs LGBTQ club has been closed since Nov. 19 of last year since a mass shooting left five people dead and more than 18 injured.
“As we approach the three-month mark following the mass shooting, we first want to thank individuals that have stepped forward to assist victims. We truly appreciate all your support for our community,” read the owners’ Facebook Post. “We especially want to thank our local and state leaders for their support and care for our community during this time."
“Our goal and intention has always been to return Club Q as a safe space for the Colorado Springs LGBTQIA+ community and will continue to tirelessly work toward that effort.”
Club Q is working with the City of Colorado Springs and the women-owned architecture firm HB&A to redesign the club to include a tribute to the victims and enhanced security features.
“I assure you we are working very hard to bring our home back,” founder and owner Matthew Haynes said in the statement.
The tribute will focus on the five people killed during the attack — Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh and Derrick Rump.
“Their memories will be carried forward and honored forever.”
Security measures will include screening technology and a “hardened space.” The group says they are working with law enforcement agencies with the hopes of creating a nationwide standard.
“We hope it can become a model for countless queer spaces across the country,” the owners said.
Designs are expected in the next four to six weeks and renovations are expected to begin in April.
In addition, the club announced it is rebuilding its staff and has also hired two victims of the mass shooting to help with community relations and the rebuilding effort.
“It was 20 years ago that I fought through a very different time in our country to ensure our community would have a safe space to gather and commune. It has been two decades now that we have kept the doors open as a place where everyone, regardless of gender identity or who they love, has somewhere to belong,” Haynes said.
The ownership group also announced that money from an internally created GoFundMe and fundraisers will be distributed starting Friday to employees who lost wages after the attack and to entertainment contractors that worked with the club.
“It is with great pleasure we are now able to provide funds in addition to what many have already received, so that our community can continue to heal,” the announcement said.
More coverage about Club Q:
- Queer bars like Club Q offer sacred space for LGBTQ community
- A Club Q survivor is released from the hospital — and says he’ll be ‘first in line’ to see the bar reopen
- For the Colorado Springs LGBTQ community, the Club Q shooting has dredged up memories of the area’s bigoted past — and the huge progress made (and yet to make)
- ‘Club Q will go on’: Co-owner of the Colorado Springs LGBTQ club speaks about the healing process, visiting the memorial and the future of Club Q
- Those we lost in the Club Q shooting
