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11 19 24 Prism Community Collective's Stoney Roberts on 2 years since Club Q tragedy
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If you put aside 25 cents every week for a year, what could you get at the end? A few cups of coffee, maybe? A candle? Or you could get a year of the best reporting from all over the world. Go to washingtonpost.com/bf24 right now. You'll get a Washington Post subscription for 25 cents a week for your first year. This is a black Friday sale, so it won't last long. Washington Post.com/bf24. It has been two years since the horrific club queue shooting in Colorado Springs. Five people were killed, 19 injured, and since that tragedy, many people and organizations have stepped in to help among them Prism Community Collective. And joining us now on the KOA Common Spirit Health Hotline to talk more about it is the site director with Prism Community Collective in Colorado Springs. Stony Roberts, Stony, thank you so much for your time this morning. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Two years since the tragedy to the day. Can you give us a little bit about a sense of what the survivors, families, and the victims have been feeling in the LGBTQ+ community, especially since we've now had the suspect in life without parole and the lawsuits that we've been seeing coming to light as of late. What is the overall environment two years since this tragedy? Yeah, absolutely. That's, you know, all that is really, I think, underscored this two-year mark. And I think that, you know, as somebody who was not directly impacted or not, you know, a survivor, I definitely want to underscore some of the other stories that are being told and encourage folks to read those and really reflect on those. But as far as the greater LGBTQ+ community, I think folks are really just kind of standing in reflection and really trying to make sure that we're not braving over, we're not forgetting what occurred, and we're really doing what we can as a community to not only lean in and support each other, but also figuring out how we move forward in a way that we're not forgetting what happened, but we're moving forward in a way so we can, you know, hopefully make sure that this, you know, doesn't happen or work with the powers that need to figure out, you know, why and what we can do to, you know, to make this not a reality ever again in the future. Stoney, I know you're trying to help people move forward with it, move past it a few as much as you can, but has the community healed over this, or is there still some hurt and pain in the community? Yeah, you know, healing is, you know, it's an interesting phrase, you know, and I think everybody is at different spaces and everybody kind of approaches that, you know, subject differently. So I think that folks are definitely doing what they can to lean into community, listening to what, you know, survivors with them, with their families have to say, and I think we're just trying to be responsive to what feedback is, and I think folks are holding each other in a way that's really, really profound, in my mind, because it's sent, you know, shock ways through the community. And so I think healing can look so many different ways, and I think prison is really focused on trying to find all the ways that that looks like, whether that's mental health services or whether that's just points of connection where folks can kind of gather and be with each other to kind of figure out what the days forward do look like for them. Let's talk a little bit more about that, Stoney, when it comes to prison, it is something that literally came as a direct response to what we saw happen at Club Q, so how does it help the community? How does it help the survivors and the families? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I mean, as you said, prison was stood up in direct response to the Club Q tragedy. And so not only for those directly impacted, but that's including the greater LGBTQ+ community and really our mission is to make sure that folks can live celebrated and liberated lives. A few ways that we do that is having mental and physical health support access, resources, resource navigation, opportunities to gather into that, like movie nights and, you know, game nights, and then really leaning in with our community partners to offer, you know, points of access that may not be available otherwise. And I think in a lot of ways, just trying to be a third space where people can, you know, together and also can just figure out what they need, because sometimes it doesn't always look one particular way. And that includes opportunities for, you know, survivors, victims, families to kind of reflect on grief. We have some peer support groups, things of that nature, but it's really all about where folks are at, and we're just committed to meeting them wherever that is. Stoney, are people still somewhat in fear and because your community's focus focuses on literally a specific community, but the greater community in large, the springs where your services are located, where Club Q is located, is there a greater buy-in and empathy from law enforcement and other folks that aren't LGBTQ+ but just live within the town and in the area? Yeah, I mean, I think that we've experienced, I know, you know, I've personally definitely experienced folks reaching out to support in all kinds of ways, whether that's donating to, you know, our general front-end closet, whether that's donating to our library, whether that's reaching out just to see how they can donate their time. And there's certainly been, and, you know, to me, not surprising just because the Colorado Springs community has always been so committed to showing up for each other in a lot of ways as, you know, different things have occurred, so we've definitely seen that support pop-up, and I think that we're still continuing that conversation about what different types of support can look like, but I think we've been definitely pleased with what support has existed. Well, Stoney, if listeners are looking for a way to give support in some way, where can they go? I would just encourage everybody to visit our website. That's going to be COS, prismandcollective.org, and you can find out anything about us there, our team. There's a space there that you can figure out how you can get involved, and I think really I would just encourage everyone to continue to listen to the stories, continue to listen to survivors, listen to their families, listen to those needs, and, you know, Prism is committed to supporting them, as well as, you know, the greater LGBTQ+ community, and if anybody is, you know, struggling, I would encourage them to text talk to 38255 here for Colorado Crisis Services, and then, you know, also reach out to your networks and, you know, hold each other close. Stoney Roberts with Prism Community Collective, thank you. There's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one member FDIC. It's beginning to sound a lot like the holidays! The Roku Channel, your home for free and premium TV, is giving you access to holiday music and genre-based stations from iHeart all for free. Find the soundtrack of the season with channels like iHeartChristmas and North Pole Radio. The Roku Channel is available on all Roku devices, web, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung TV's, and the Roku mobile app on iOS and Android devices. So stream what you love and turn up the cheer with iHeartRadio on the Roku Channel. Happy streaming! If you put aside 25 cents every week for a year, what could you get at the end? A few cups of coffee maybe? A candle? Or you could get a year of the best reporting from all over the world. Go to washingtonpost.com/bf24 right now. You'll get a Washington Post subscription for 25 cents a week for your first year. This is a Black Friday sale, so it won't last long. WashingtonPost.com/bf24.