Rochester LGBTQ+ groups mourning the loss of five victims killed in Colorado club mass shooting

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — LGBTQ+ groups in Rochester are mourning the loss of the five victims who were killed in a mass shooting at a LGBTQ+ club in Colorado.

“Out Alliance” says, gay clubs, and bars are meant to be a safe space for their community. Andrew Moran, the board president of the organization says this shooting brought him back mentally to 2016, when a gunman killed 49 people at Pulse Night Club in Florida.

“I’m getting flashbacks to the day after and hearing the news at pulse. It’s a reminder that our LGBTQ community is still fighting for its rights to exist equally alongside our fellow people.”

Moran says he’s heartbroken. He says, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, his heart yearns for the day he no longer has to look over his shoulder while out in public.

“Last night I was at a nightclub in DC that was doing a queer space, and I walking in not even knowing that this was going to be happening I was looking around making sure I knew where all the exits were.”

Five people are dead and 18 others were hurt after a mass shooting inside an LGBTQ+ nightclub during a drag show in Colorado Springs late Saturday night. One suspect is in police custody

“I remember from pulse, our queer spaces, especially our gay bars, they are supposed to be our sanctuary, that is where we’re supposed to be safe and to have this be an attack on a place that is supposed to be a place of safety of community is just heartbreaking,” Moran added.

Moran says, Out Alliance is planning a vigil next week to remember and mourn the loss of the five Colorado victims. We’ll have more information on that vigil as it becomes available.