Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooter is non-binary, his attorney says, and uses ‘they/them’ pronouns – Must Read Alaska
Mainstream media reports rushed to judgment after Saturday’s mass shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub, where five people were killed and 17 were wounded before the shooter was stopped by people in the club. The media ruling and that of the LGBTQ+ community and allies was that it was a hate crime perpetuated by someone who hates LGBTQ+ people.
The man suspected of the shooting, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, faces murder and hate crime charges for Saturday night’s Club Q attack. He has been released from a hospital for injuries sustained after patrons stopped him, and is in jail.
Now, according to documents obtained by the New York Times, Aldrich’s attorney is claiming that Aldrich is “non-binary” and uses “they/them” pronouns.
Non-binary means that the person feels like they are neither male or female. There is no specific scientific basis for this and it is not the same as being a eunuch. They/them pronouns avoids assigning a gender to a person and is a trend now being used in schools, colleges, and by corporations.
The revelation makes it more interesting in the prosecution of the mass shooting as a hate crime, even if the survivors say that it is.
Aldrich has known mental health issues. He was arrested in 2021 after his mother reported to the county sheriff’s office that he was threatening to harm her with a homemade bomb and other weapons. At the time, he got into a standoff with authorities before he was arrested, but he was never prosecuted.
Authorities said the attack on Saturday was stopped by patrons of the club who took weapon from Aldrich and then beat him with it and pinned him down until police arrived.
Here’s how the New York Times reported it on Monday, promoting the narrative that it was the work of an anti-gay extremist:
“COLORADO SPRINGS — This community pressed up against the Rockies was known for years as the Vatican of Evangelicals — a home base for a well-funded, well-organized conservative Christian political movement that broadcast dire warnings about the dangers of homosexuality to the nation, and in the early 1990s was instrumental in making Colorado the only state to ever pass a law making it legal to discriminate against people based on sexual orientation.
“That was a long time ago, before Colorado Springs nearly doubled in size, outsiders made the city an increasingly diverse place and the community began hosting a yearly Pride parade officially sanctioned by the Republican mayor. Many in Colorado Springs believed the community had moved on.
“But last weekend when a gunman stormed into Club Q, one of the city’s few L.G.B.T.Q. clubs, killing five people and injuring 18 others, many members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community and their supporters found reason to question whether Colorado Springs had made as much progress as they thought — especially in an increasingly armed nation awash in extremist views.
“The authorities are now holding a suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22. He was released from the hospital and has been booked in El Paso County jail, according to a tweet from the Colorado Springs police on Tuesday. His motivations were still unclear.”
More information released on Tuesday shows that Aldrich’s father is a former gay porn star and that his mother has a history of troubles.