Integrity is more than what you do when no one’s looking. It’s also how you show up for people when they’re vulnerable, traumatized, and in crisis. In the wake of the controversy surrounding nearly $2 million in donations that are currently being held by individuals and organizations, the question of integrity and ethics could not be more prevalent.In November 2022, when the horrific shootings occurred at Club Q, Bread and Roses Legal Center was one of the first to step up to the call to help the survivors and victims of the incident. Within days, they organized “Queers for Q” in conjunction with community leaders such as Melissa Ivey and Leslie Herod, which was held at Town Hall Collaborative. The community came together for this event and raised nearly $40,000 in cash and benefits for the victims and families involved in the tragedy at Club Q. But while Bread and Roses set protocol and accounting for the disbursement of funds raised, with 100 percent of the funds going directly to the victims and families of the incident at Club Q, not every agency that organized fundraisers was quite as forthcoming. Photo credit Charlotte Piper In the months since this incident occurred, an “official” Club Q GoFundMe campaign was organized naming Matthew Haynes, co-owner of Club Q as one of the beneficiaries. Additionally, the notoriously questionable Colorado Healing Fund (CHF) is alleged to have actively participated in withholding more than $2 million from the victims and families impacted the most by the Club Q tragedy.
Bread and Roses Legal Center is actively at the front of the call to release these funds that have yet to be dispersed. On February 14, 2023 Bread and Roses Legal Center organized a press conference on the steps of the Capitol Building in downtown Denver. During this call to action, the victims’ families and survivors spoke out against the Colorado Healing Fund and the owners of Club Q.
“It is our great honor to host these powerful voices and some of the most incredible advocates who have had to be advocates when no one should need to. These are folks who have lost loved ones in mass tragedies, who have been injured in mass tragedies, who have been harmed by them and have had to organize because the funds that were raised for them to ensure that they were taken care of are being held by others… So we’re here today to listen to their stories, listen to their voices, and demand, not only 100% of what’s been raised for the Club Q survivors be released to them, but that this cycle of harm against survivors be ended,” Z Williams, the co-founder of Bread and Roses Legal Center, says during the press conference.
As reporters from agencies all over Colorado stood by taking notes, the victims and advocates for those impacted most by the events of that fateful night at Club Q spoke up regarding the duplicitous practices of those allegedly responsible for withholding donations.
“The Colorado Healing Fund raised funds on the behalf of my son and the victims and their families… They have not reached out to any of us to talk about what they are going to do with the funds that they have raised, and I don’t believe that this should continue to go on. They already have a track record. And these people are dictating what they’re going to do with the funds that they have raised for us. This is a call for action for everybody that is listening who is in a position of power to be able to help us,” says Adriana Vance, the mother of one of the victims Raymond Green Vance.
Expressing their dismay at finding out via Facebook that they were no longer employed by Club Q, Hysteria Brooks and Ashtin Gamblin spoke out against the withholding of funds on the behalf of those impacted the most by this tragedy.
“People should come before businesses… Matthew had told us that we were going to be adequately taken care of; that we didn’t need any other funds because Matthew, our boss, was going to take care of us, and now we’re learning that that is not his true plan… We were the heart and soul of Club Q. Without us, it would have been four walls and a roof,” Hysteria Brooks says.
“I am Ashton Gamblin. I was the front door girl at Club Q. I was shot nine times. I have been through immeasurable hell in the past three months. My husband was deployed when I was shot, and one of our regulars had to call my husband for me because it wasn’t our owner’s responsibility… For the last three months, I haven’t been working. I can’t even work my full-time job because I have one fully working hand… My left hand does not work right now. So I do stand with the employees that Matthew does need to release our money. As for the Colorado Healing Fund, they also need to release our money because we know what’s best. We know our long-term needs,” she says.
At the forefront of this call to action is Bread and Roses Legal Center, the local legal nonprofit that is working hard to advocate for these victims. They have expressed a relentless resolve to assist in getting justice and advocating for support of those impacted the most by the Club Q tragedy.
“We believe that our clients know what they need and make them the focus of our representation,” says Williams during a recent interview. OFM has made multiple attempts to reach out to the owners of Club Q for a statement but as of the time of this printing has not received any response.
In the meantime, Bread and Roses Legal Center will continue to advocate for the victims and the survivors by applying pressure to the Colorado Healing Fund and Matthew Haynes to release the funds owed to them.
Those interested in getting involved should reach out directly to Bread and Roses Legal Center. Featured image credit Charlotte Piper
