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LGBTQ chorus in Colorado Springs tries to unify their community with song

Gay and lesbian choruses like Out Loud were born out of the 1978 assassination of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and have remained steadfast pillars of the LGBTQ community from the AIDS crisis through mass shootings such as Orlando’s Pulse nightclub in 2016

By Jesse Bedayn
The Associated Press
Bill Loper, interim artistic director of the Out Loud Colorado Springs Men's Chorus, leads the group during a rehearsal for its Christmas program in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. Gay and lesbian choruses like Out Loud came about after the assassination of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and have remained steadfast institutions through the civil rights struggles of the 20th century up to today. They've taken an active role in the healing process after mass shootings like that at Orlando's Pulse nightclub and the Nov. 19 attack at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs that killed five people.
Thomas Peipert/AP

SALT LAKE CITY — Below the vaulted dome and dark wood beams of a church in Colorado Springs, a gay men’s choir rehearsed for a concert that’s taken on new meaning after an LGBTQ night club became the site of a shooting that killed five and wounded 17.

“There is no peace on earth, I said,” the chorus sang. “For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth.”

The old lyrics that rang through the halls of the First Congregational Church were haunted by new memories of the Nov. 21 violence at Club Q — the sound of screams over club music, the sight of bullet wounds plugged by napkins and people pleading with their friends to keep breathing.



In the 13 days since the shooting, Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ community has worked to collect itself and forge ahead. Patrons of Club Q — those who survived the rampage as well as regulars who weren’t there last Saturday — have organized donation drives for victims’ families, leaned on queer-affirming clergy and renewed their commitments to LGBTQ spaces and organizations, including Out Loud Colorado Springs Men’s Chorus.

Gay and lesbian choruses like Out Loud were born out of the 1978 assassination of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and have remained steadfast pillars of the LGBTQ community from the AIDS crisis through mass shootings such as Orlando’s Pulse nightclub in 2016.



Read more on ColoradoSun.com.


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