Colorado Springs police said they made an effort not to misgender Club Q victims. Here’s why that matters…
A young woman told police in an April meeting with police that she had been raped by Club Q in a Denver bar. She said she had been on multiple drugs and drinking before going to the bar.
A Club Q representative told the woman that she would be “treated with respect” if she came forward with her allegations and gave her a list of other victims.
The woman agreed to meet with the police to provide her statement, and then waited for weeks to be notified that she had been identified as a victim in other police reports.
As I write this, she is still waiting for any response from the city of Colorado Springs or the police.
When she first became a victim, she feared speaking out. While she was interviewed, she was encouraged by an officer to give a more detailed account of the rape. When she did, the allegations were not dismissed.
Club Q, a nationally recognized LGBTQ nightclub, has operated in Colorado Springs since 2013. Now a woman, she said she was targeted by a man who sexually assaulted her. She said she had multiple drug and alcohol addictions.
“This was the club I belonged to, I would go there on holidays, I would go there on Fridays. I came in this morning and, boom, I was raped,” she said.
The woman said she was told that her complaints would be taken seriously and that other victims were already being contacted.
Club Q spokesman Bill Culp told CBS4 that the club didn’t need to report her as a victim.
He said this was a “victim-blaming” move from the club, that’s against the law and doesn’t make sense.
Culp said the club doesn’t discriminate against people who were victims of sexual assault.
Club Q, which provides a private space for LGBTQ sexual partners to “come and enjoy one another as they can,” offers