Survivors of November’s mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado will testify at an upcoming House Oversight Committee hearing on anti-LGBTQ violence.
Wednesday’s hearing will feature testimony from Matthew Haynes, co-owner of Club Q, where the shooting took place. Michael Anderson and James Slaugh, two survivors who worked as bartenders at the club, will also testify, the committee told NBC News, which first reported news of the hearing on Monday.
On the night of Nov. 19, a shooter opened fire in the Colorado Springs club, killing five people and injuring 25 more before he was subdued by two patrons and later arrested by police. Slaugh was struck by a bullet in the shooting, which shattered the bone in his arm. Suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, faces five murder charges and five hate crime charges.
The committee will also hear the testimony of Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the 2016 shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, where a gunman killed 49 people.
As Democratic control of the House of Representatives comes to a close, this hearing is likely to be one of the committee’s last before Republicans take over.
The hearing comes as anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation are on the rise across the country. Hundreds of bills that would limit the rights of LGBTQ people were filed in the first months of this year, NBC reported.
“Make no mistake, the rise in anti-LGBTQI+ extremism and the despicable policies that Republicans at every level of government are advancing to attack the health and safety of LGBTQI+ people are harming the LGBTQI+ community and contributing to tragedies like what we saw at Club Q,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who chairs the committee, said in a statement announcing the hearing.
Candidates spent at least $50 million on political ads ahead of the 2022 midterm elections targeting LGBTQ rights and transgender youth, according to Human Rights Campaign research. At least 25 states aired anti-trans and anti-equality ads, and conservative media amplified the hate.
Inflammatory “grooming” rhetoric against LGBTQ people surged more than 400 percent on social media following Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Meanwhile, tweets using a slur against transgender people increased 62 percent since billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter in October, according to research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate.