We at Horizons are devastated by the continued crimes of hate toward LGBTQ people and LGBTQ safe spaces: this time, it’s the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs. Our thoughts go out to family and friends of those lost, injured, and traumatized due to this horrific hate violence and to the shaken LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs.

The fact that this incident took place on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance, when we memorialize those lost to anti-trans violence, makes it even more wrenching. We also recognize that Saturday night’s horror was not an isolated incident, but rather part of an alarming pattern of growing anti-LGBTQ violence and rhetoric. Even as our movement advances in many respects, hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity remain daily nightmares. The Pulse Nightclub mass shooting was not all too long ago.

Each year, I’ve sent a Thanksgiving message of gratitude to the Horizons community. Right now, that feels very hard to do. We are outraged and we are angry that, once again, LGBTQ people appear to have been murdered just for who we are. But even as we grieve and demand justice, we are grateful for the club’s heroic patrons who stopped the attack. We’re grateful for all those whose courage and defiance have brought our movement this far. And we are grateful for all people – including you – whose passion for justice will not end no matter how tortuous the road, no matter the price, no matter how hard they try to make us afraid.