Veteran helped disarm gunman at gay club: 'It's the reflex' : NPR

Contents:

• THE VETERAN WHO HELPED DISARM THE GUNMAN AT GAY CLUB SAYS HE FOLLOWED HIS STCTS
• ‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS
• ARMY VET, NAVY PETTY OFFICER STOPPED GUNMAN AT COLORADO GAY CLUB
• I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
• COLORADO SPRGS GAY CLUB SHOOTER’S CASE HEADS TO TRIAL

THE VETERAN WHO HELPED DISARM THE GUNMAN AT GAY CLUB SAYS HE FOLLOWED HIS STCTS

When the gunfire began si Club Q, a Colorado Sprgs gay club, on Saturday night, Army veteran Richard Fierro went to "bat mo, " as he put , and tried to do all he uld to stop the shooter om hurtg people. — A rated army veteran who tackled the shooter who killed five a Colorado Sprgs gay club said he wanted to protect the close kn muny si the room. Gay, straight, don't matter.

… It has nothg to do wh whether they’re gay or straight, or whatever. ”Wolf had sought refuge Florida 15 years ago when he was done wh ral Oregon, the childhood home where he suffered embedd racism and homophobia on a daily basis. Among his motivatns for wrg the book was to reclaim tersectnaly om DeSantis and others on the right who seek to hijack explas: “I wanted to give a human flavour to what tersectnaly actually looks and feels like and what feels like to experience racism and homophobia at the same time.

Growg up a nservative majory whe town was difficult bee the same kid who would ll me the N-word on one day would ll me a homophobic slur on another day and I was nstantly navigatg the tersectns of those two thgs. Last month DeSantis’s mpaign released an anti-LGBTQ+ vio assailg Tmp for his past support of gay and transgenr ments: “It is a sry time to be not jt LGBTQ but LGBTQ and Black this state and ultimately that’s the tent. Colorado Sprgs, the state’s send-most populo cy wh jt unr 500, 000 rints, is home to a number of ary bas and is the headquarters for Foc on the Fay, the nservative Christian group that says homosexualy and same-sex marriage are ss.

‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS

He and his bs partner toured other succsful LGBTQ spac and noted a mon theme: “They were gay as hell, ” Grzecka told the outlet.

We knew we had to be gay as hell (to survive). Jared Polis, a Democrat and the natn’s first openly gay ernor, issued a statement Sunday llg the attack “horrific, sickeng and vastatg” and offered state rourc to lol law enforcement. Polis told CNN’s Jim Asta there are only two gay bars Colorado Sprgs, and Club Q was one of the ma venu.

ARMY VET, NAVY PETTY OFFICER STOPPED GUNMAN AT COLORADO GAY CLUB

But as a gay man, I have been fightg my whole life to enjoy the very privileg I am entled to as both a beholr and protector of them. I was one of few soldiers who joed the service before graduatg high school, but the admistratn at the time, which I believe was homophobic, chose to act as if I never existed bee of my queer hate that I experienced growg up on Long Island was my first enunter wh how others would treat me as a queer soldier.

A Navy sailor grabbed the barrel of a gunman’s rifle and an Army veteran shed to help as they end the adly mass shootg at the gay nightclub November, a police tective ttified Wednday. (AP) — A shooter seemed to be driven by bias agast the LGBTQ muny plottg an attack at a gay nightclub Colorado Sprgs, killg five and woundg 17 others, a judge acknowledged Thursday fdg that prosecutors showed enough evince for trial on murr and ha te crime charg. District Attorney Michael Allen told the judge that the evince showed that Aldrich had a "distaste for LGBTQ, " potg to an onle msage of a rifle spe over a gay pri para picture and e of gay slurs agast others and while onle gamg.

Hate crime laws are foced on the victims, not the hearg also revealed that Aldrich might be gay, somethg not prevly mentned by prosecutors or fense attorneys. Aldrich told one of the patrons who helped stop the attack, “My mom will not accept me bee I’m gay. ”Also released was a receipt that showed that on one of Aldrich’s viss to the club before the shootg, they bought two vodkas and “gayoli i” om bartenr Derrick Rump, who was among those sla.

I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK

A police tective says the 22-year-old acced of rryg out the adly mass shootg at a gay nightclub Colorado Sprgs November ran a neo-Nazi webse and ed gay and racial slurs while gamg onleExterr view of Club Q Wednday, Feb. (AP) — The 22-year-old acced of rryg out the adly mass shootg at a gay nightclub Colorado Sprgs November ran a neo-Nazi webse and ed gay and racial slurs while gamg onle, a police tective ttified Wednday.

Anrson Lee Aldrich also posted an image of a rifle spe traed on a gay pri para and ed a bigoted slur when referrg to someone who was gay, Detective Rebec Jo ttimony me at the start of a hearg that will terme if there’s enough evince to warrant that Aldrich face hate crime charg, addn to other charg cludg murr and attempted murr. The shootg six years after the 2016 massacre at Pulse, a gay nightclub Orlando, Florida, which left 49 people ad and dozens advot spoke out agast the shootg and support of the victims Sunday.

COLORADO SPRGS GAY CLUB SHOOTER’S CASE HEADS TO TRIAL

”Transportatn Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who as a ndidate the 2020 printial electn beme the first openly gay ndidate to n for the natn’s hight office, lled the news of the shootg “sickeng and heartbreakg” and part of a “pattern” a tweet Sunday.

Jared Polis, who 2018 was the first openly gay man elected ernor and is currently quarantg wh Covid, lled the shootg "horrific, sickeng, and vastatg" a statement released Sunday morng. A man who has been lled a hero for helpg subdue the spect the adly Colorado Sprgs gay nightclub mass shootg has spoken out about what he experienced si the venue.