Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ community faces post-election stress, uncertainty about the future
Nov 17, 2024 Updated Nov 19, 2024
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Uncertainty about the future and concern about past attitudes have created post-election stress for many members of the LGBTQ+ community, according to mental health professionals.
Lauren Slye, vice president of outpatient clinical services at Diversus Health in Colorado Springs said people are experiencing “valid feelings of disappointment, fear and loss,” following the Nov. 5 victory of President-elect Donald Trump.
That has led to “acute stress, which typically happens quickly but doesn’t last more than 30 days,” she said.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other people associated with the LGBTQ+ population have been on edge, said Rachel Keener, co-chair of the community advisory council of the Prism Community Collective. The center at 711 S. Tejon St., works with people affected by the Nov. 19, 2022, shooting at Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs.
“At this point, a lot of marginalized people are concerned about what life looks like,” she said. “Conditions were precarious before; now there’s a sense of urgency in figuring out where we fit in all of it, refocusing and looking at next steps.”
According to translegislation.com, 665 “anti-trans bills” regarding health care, education, legal recognition and the right to publicly exist were introduced across the country in 43 states. Of those, a large majority of 492 failed, 45 passed and 128 are active, according to the tracking site.
Appointments for clinical therapy and counseling at Prism Community Collective have been full since the election, said Keener, who also works as senior manager for health equity at Community Health Partnership, an organization that oversees Prism.
Mirroring a nationwide trend, calls to Prism inquiring about services also have increased, she said.
The Trevor Project, the nation’s leading mental health organization for LGBTQ+ youth, reported a 700% surge in calls to its crisis line after the election.
Diversus last week began a regular schedule of providing clinicians at Prism, Slye said. Peak Vista Community Health Centers also supplies mental health professionals for Prism users.
“This was a very charged campaign season,” Slye said. “It can feel like the world is against some of the marginalized populations.”
What was considered anti-trans messaging appeared in pro-Trump advertising that turned the use of the pronoun “they and them” into an “us vs. them” type of juxtaposition. Now, many don’t see how the situation could not devolve under the incoming administration, Prism leaders said.
Speaking as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Keener said transgender and gender-expansive people have been the target of “increased negativity and hate” for months leading up to the presidential election.
“The rhetoric and the concern about rights is absolutely focused on impacting the transgender and trans-expansive community the most — that’s undeniable,” she said, adding that issues surrounding marriage, gender identity, name changes, legal matters and health are of most concern.
FBI data released in September showed that hate crimes motivated by gender-identity and sexual orientation rose from 2022 to 2023. The FBI reported 2,936 incidents related to sexual-orientation and gender-identity bias in 2023, an increase of nearly 9% from about 2,700 in 2022.
“This community is resilient and taking care of themselves but needs support right now,” Keener said.
Looking at social media, particularly “doom scrolling,” or focusing on speculation about what might happen in the future, can contribute to mental anguish by fueling anxiety and fears, Slye said.
To reduce that, she recommends limiting social media by vowing to scroll only three times a day for 10 minutes each and setting a timer to stick to the pledge.
As the holidays approach, setting boundaries with people who have differing views also can help protect mental well-being, Slye said.
“Determine what you can control and what you cannot control,” she said, and “join advocacy groups to have a voice in trying to protect your rights.”
Also, “Avoid the worst-case scenarios, engage in physical activity, practice mindfulness, ground yourself in nature, hold something soft in your hands if you are exposed to something negative, and develop other positive habits to manage stress,” Slye said.
Seeking safe spaces
Since opening in June, interest in the Prism Community Collective has steadily increased, said site director Stoney Roberts. In addition to individual counseling, peer support groups run by the local office of the National Alliance on Mental Health are offered weekly.
Social connections such as game nights and virtual programming have been popular, Roberts said, and the space has become an accepted hangout. There’s also free “gender-affirming clothing” donated by supporters.
As the Nov. 19 anniversary of the Club Q shooting approaches and with political stress lingering, it’s important for LGBTQ+ people to seek people and places that give a sense of belonging, Prism leaders said.
“People want a space to decompress with peers about how they’re feeling and knowing what safety feels like,” Roberts said.
The Club Q mass shooting, which authorities defined as a hate crime, “shows what the most extreme outcomes of what anti-LGBTQ and trans-rhetoric looks like,” Keener said. “Messages of hate have consequences. That’s everyone’s fear.”
In June, shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich, 24, formerly of Colorado Springs, was sentenced to 55 concurrent life sentences to run consecutive to 190 years in prison after pleading guilty to 74 hate crimes and firearms charges.
According to the plea agreement, Aldrich admitted to murdering five people, injuring 19 and attempting to murder 26 more in a willful, deliberate, malicious and premediated attack at the nightclub, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Led by a gay governor and with many favorable laws in place, Colorado as a whole is viewed as LGBTQ+ friendly.
The state has become a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community, said Cal Solverson, spokesperson for One Colorado, the state’s primary advocacy group for LGBTQ+ rights. Its status was further bolstered, he said, by voters passing two state Constitutional amendments on Nov. 5 to repeal the definition that only a union of one man and one woman is valid or recognized as marriage in Colorado and enshrine abortion and allow taxpayer dollars to subsidize abortions for women on Medicaid.
More LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgenders, are inquiring about moving here, according to Trans Continental Pipeline, a queer relocation nonprofit in Denver.
“We have seen a massive increase in new aid requests,” its website states. As a result, the organization is training new relocation managers, adding more resources and expanding to other safe states, the message says.
Because amid a common sentiment of discomfort and fear, there’s a sense of optimism that Colorado’s support won’t crumble, Solverson said.
“The community is heavily leaning into our past of fighting for our freedom and rights,” Solverson said. “Most of us realize that we are a strong community who has done this before, and we’ll do it again for as long as we have to until every person has the right to exist freely and fully as they are.”
El Paso County, which historically has been politically conservative and was ground zero for anti-gay legislation in the early 1990s, has been recognized for improving acceptance and compassion for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly since the Club Q shooting.
“Deep down, people in Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region care about each other and that our community is safe and inclusive of everyone,” Keener said. “I have a lot of faith in this community in making sure we support all people, and I hope that continues.”
This article was originally published by the Colorado Springs Gazette.