TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo's LGBTQ community paid respects Monday night to the five people killed and 18 injured in a shooting Saturday at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
Organizers of the event Monday said the violence, reminiscent of past hate crimes targeting LGTBQ people like the Pulse nightclub shooting that killed 46 people and wounded 53 others in 2016, is another bloody example that changes must be made to protect marginalized groups.
Toledo Pride representatives said targeted shootings like the one at Club Q will not tear the community down. Instead, it's time for everyone to stand up and use their voices.
More than two dozen voices came together at the vigil in downtown Toledo to say there are too many, and at the same time, not enough, words to describe what they are feeling.
"Heartbroken, fragile, vulnerable, like it could happen here, anywhere," Equality Toledo executive Joseph Wood said.
Amid the fear expressed were also adamant refusals to back down against anti-LGTBQ violence.
"I will not live in fear as a black queer woman," Toledo Public Schools board member Sheena Barnes said. "They will not have my silence and they will not put me back in the closet anymore."
The vigil was about love, coming together and remembering the lives lost. It was also about advocating action and changing rhetoric.
"When trans, non-binary, lesbian and gay people are seen by certain institutions as not existing, it allows some people to use violent tendencies and kill members of our community," Wood said. "We need to change our rhetoric at all levels in this country."
Thoughts and prayers aren't enough anymore. Equality Toledo Vice Chair Scot Henshaw said organized action to urge local, state and federal governments to protect the LGBTQ community against further violence, and stop those who want to harm them, is necessary.
"We definitely need more movement, more thrust, and more power behind it," Henshaw said. We can't continue to let things slide and continue to protest. We have to get involved. We have to make these calls to our state senators and congressmen and get things passed that are going to help us and stop going against us."
Local LGTBQ organizers also said allyship is an important component of enacting change. Equality Toledo and Toledo Pride organizers said attending their meetings is just one of the many steps people can take to get involved at the local level.