‘It is a mecca’: Club Q patrons mourn violation of a place that felt like home

The beloved Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ club has a storied past, a painful present and a hopeful future

For two decades, Club Q was the center of gravity for the region's LGBTQ+ community and provided a place to organize, share resources and, most of all, take refuge.

It is the mecca of this area. Everyone felt safe there. Everyone could go there and be themselves and not have something like this happen," said Jessica Laney, an organizer with Pikes Peak Pride, referring to the 20 November shooting that killed five people and injured dozens more. Club Q had their finger on the pulse of everything going on in the queer community in Colorado Springs and Denver and beyond."