Two months after the Colorado Springs Club Q shooting, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow sat down with 16 advocates at the Transgender Center of the Rockies in Sheridan to discuss the needs and concerns facing the LGBTQ+ community.
“I’ve walked along a certain life path that’s given me certain perspectives and lived experience, but you all have walked different ones and it’s important to listen to that and understand that, so I can understand what I can do better,” said Crow, who represents Colorados’ 6th Congressional District.
“I know there’s a lot more that can be done and I should be doing,” he said.
Sitting around him were representatives of various organizations that serve the LGBTQ+ community, such as the Transgender Center of the Rockies and Mile High Behavioral Healthcare, the YouthSeen nonprofit, the Matthew Shepard Foundation and the Envision:You nonprofit.
April Owen, director of Transgender Center of the Rockies, said the center was very affected by the Club Q shooting, in which five people were killed and at least 17 others wounded.
A program of Mile High Behavioral Healthcare, the center offers holistic, gender-affirming resources and services to LGBTQ+ people across Colorado. Since the shooting in late November, there has been an increase in the number of people utilizing the center, Owen said.
However, the accessibility of gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ people continues to be a challenge for many, advocates explained during the nearly hour-long conversation.
“We have an abundance of therapists in Colorado,” said Tara Jae, founder and executive director of YouthSeen and a co-founder of Black Pride Colorado. “Affirming therapists? Not so much. Therapists of color? Handful. And there’s a waitlist for that.”
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