Colorado governor condemns shooting at LGBTQ nightclub [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Five people were killed and over 20 were injured in a deadly shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado.
• Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay man elected governor, called the shooting “horrific.”
• Polis has recently condemned the increased attacks on the LGBTQ community and the passage of anti-LGBTQ laws.

A deadly shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, killed five and injured over 20 people on Saturday. Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay man elected governor in the United States, called the shooting “horrific, sickening, and devastating.”

“My heart breaks for the family and friends of those lost, injured, and traumatized in this horrific shooting,” he wrote on Sunday.

Later on Sunday, Polis shared a heartbreak emoji on his personal Twitter account to convey that he has no words for the tragedy.

According to the governor’s office, he was working from home since he had tested positive for Covid on Thursday. He was asymptomatic.

Back in 1992, Colorado was known as “the hate state” when voters passed a proposition banning anti-discrimination ordinances. The state has since shifted toward supporting LGBTQ rights. In 2014, the state formally recognized same-sex marriage a year before the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

Polis was among the record number of LGBTQ candidates in the 2018 midterm elections. He is the second openly LGBTQ person to be elected governor of a state, after Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon, who identifies as bisexual, was first elected in a 2016 special election.

Polis’ sexuality only played a minor role during his first gubernatorial run, concentrating instead on providing more government services and growing the state’s economy. Recently, he became more vocal amid the increased attacks on the LGBTQ community and the passage of anti-LGBTQ laws.

In 2019, Polis signed a law banning conversion therapy, which seeks to change minors’ perceived gender identity or sexual orientation. He also signed a separate law that would facilitate the update of transgender people’s gender on their birth certificates and other documents.

Polis said at the time, “Today Colorado took an important step forward in recognizing our diversity as a strength. These bills truly underscore the idea that Colorado is a state where everyone can be their true selves and live the life they want.”

Polis told CNN earlier this year, “Words matter. Laws matter. When a group of people, LGBTQ youth, feel targeted by the words and laws that some politicians espouse, of course, it can increase anxiety, depression.”

When Polis first got elected in 2008, he considered himself “the first openly gay parent to win a seat in Congress.” He served as the representative of Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District for five terms.

Polis’ marriage with his longtime partner last year marked the first same-sex marriage for a sitting governor.

Source: NBC News