We Keep Us Safe: A Trans Woman Helped End The Shooting

It Was A Transgender Woman And Her High Heels That Helped Stop The Colorado Gunman

Credit: @bitebackdc

It was 12:02 AM when the shooter was detained in Club Q, Colorado. In his wake, 5 people were left dead and an additional 26 wounded. Today, we are learning that those numbers would have been so much higher if it weren’t for the action of three people. One of those people was a transgender woman who repeatedly stomped on the hateful shooter with her high heels. The man who tackled the shooter was then detained by police and she was referred to in media reports as a “drag queen.”

It’s hard not to read this story and be filled with emotions. It had to be one of us - a transgender person - who bravely fought the shooter to keep other patrons safe. On transgender day of remembrance, this trans woman kicked someone in the process of enacting a hate crime within an inch of his life. I’m reminded of a saying in marginalized communities that I have seen in transgender spaces lately: “we keep us safe.” This has been the message we have seen in the aftermath of the shooting even before we learned that a transgender person was one of the people responsible for ending the attack:

So often we hear of debates in the LGBTQ+ community “should cops be banned from pride” with the idea that it is police officers who will keep our community safe. There were 376 law enforcement officers present at Uvalde, and a transgender woman did more to end a mass shooting than any of them. A transgender woman heard gunfire and stood up and moved towards it to protect her siblings. It was a transgender woman who said, “no, you will not hurt us anymore.” When the cops actually did show up, they detained one of the heroes for an hour in the back of a cop car.

For the last few years we have heard contrived “debates” meant to dehumanize transgender people (these debates serve as seeds to inspire attacks such as the one on Club Q). Anti-trans groups have advocated “dropping the T” from LGBT, though these efforts have failed to gain a true grassroots foothold. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the hate group LGB Alliance published a tweet how they were in “solidarity with LGB people” purposefully leaving out transgender people, even though two of the five dead were confirmed to be transgender.

LGB Alliance @ALLIANCELGB

We are horrified by the news of the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, and stand in solidarity with LGB people worldwide against this senseless hatred. Our thoughts are with the victims, and all who knew and loved them.

reuters.comGunman kills 5 in Colorado LGBTQ nightclub before he is stopped by patronsPolice identified the suspect as a 22-year-old man, who shot at patrons with a long rifle, a weapon that can inflict devastating wounds. Authorities said they were investigating whether the attack was motivated by hate.

If anything should be immediately clear, its that the T should never be dropped because time and time again, transgender people have bravely withstood violence in order to help the LGBTQ+ community. Going all the way back to Stonewall, transgender people fought back for total liberation for LGBTQ+ people. This isn’t even the first time that a transgender woman rushed forward to stop a shooter. Jo Acker in Idaho witnessed a mall shooting and ran towards the suspect to stop him, taking the first bullet and dying. A transgender woman was the one who kept us safe in Club Q.

Some people say that transgender women should be kept out of our schools. Some people think that transgender people are a danger to kids, dangerous in bathrooms, dangerous to exist and have rights to public spaces. This transgender woman in Club Q should show everybody that not only are transgender people not dangerous, but ferociously protective of our community and our allies, cis and trans, gay and straight. If anything, put a trans woman like the one who was in Club Q in every school. Remember this woman the next time they try to spread fear around trans kids.

Supposedly the man who she beat up was hanging on by a thread to his life. Reports have come in that he remains hospitalized two days later. I hope that when this hateful person wakes up in prison, he has reminders of the wounds that this transgender woman gave him every day for the rest of his life. But for our community, stories like this one give us hope and strength that we have a family we can rely on in each other. We keep us safe.