Evangelical group’s Colorado HQ vandalised after Club Q mass shooting: ‘Blood is on your hands’
A sign on the property of Focus on the Family in Colorado was vandalised with graffiti reading “blood is on your hands” and “fives lives taken”. (Twitter/coloradopeoplespress)
Far-right Christian group Focus on the Family has had its sign vandalised in response to the Colorado Springs shooting at Club Q.
A sign on the property of the Colorado Springs-based organisation was defaced with graffiti reading “blood is on your hands” and “five lives taken”.
It comes five days after Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh and Raymond Green Vance lost their lives after a gunman, believed to be 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, opened fire in Club Q.
A statement from a group claiming responsibility for the vandalism has been shared on Twitter by colorado peoples press.
The letter states the graffiti was in protest against the “incredible violence that Focus on the Family continues to perpetuate” against the queer community.
It references the devastating Club Q shooting and says it’s “no accident” it happened in the “city steeped in homophobia, transphobia, and white supremacy”.
“It is no surprise that someone did this in the city that is home to such a hateful organisation as Focus on the Family”.
The statement goes on to say the organisation “must be held accountable for the ramifications of their hateful ideology”, and it claims Focus on the Family works closely with “powerful entities” to “promote and fund anti-trans legislation”.
“Focus on the Family’s goal is to eradicate queerness,” the letter adds.
On Thursday afternoon (24 November) the graffiti was covered with large sheets of plastic and cardboard.
Focus on the family vandalized in response to the club q murders in Colorado Springs “THEIR BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS
FIVE LIVES TAKEN”A press release and report back from those who completed this direct action: pic.twitter.com/LszpJrTmzX
— sylvie (@sylvie_ish) November 25, 2022
Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, told the Independent: “We recognize the community is hurting in the aftermath of the reckless and violent actions of a very disturbed individual. This is a time for prayer, grieving and healing, not vandalism and the spreading of hate.
“Focus on the Family is privileged to be one of many organizations in our city positioned to help and support the needs of struggling individuals and families.”
He continued: “The families of the five individuals killed in Saturday night’s senseless attack are in our prayers. We urge everyone to pray for peace and we also pray for the individual or group responsible for this mischievous and unwarranted defacing of our ministry’s property.”
Focus on the Family is a fundamentalist far-right Christian group founded in 1977, which has relentlessly lobbied against LGBT+ rights.
The group was founded by James Dobson, and it believes: “Marriage is intended by God to be a thriving, lifelong relationship between a man and a woman enduring through trials, sickness, financial crises and emotional stresses.
“Therefore, Christians are called to defend and protect God’s marriage design and to minister in Christ’s name to those who suffer the consequences of its brokenness.”
The anti-LGBTQ+ organisation is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Centre among other Christian ministries and lobbying groups that “compromise the hard core of the anti-gay movement”.
It was previously accused of offering conversion therapy to minors in the US, in areas where the barbaric practice has been made illegal.
The organisation, which insists being gay causes “death and disease”, was also declared a COVID-19 outbreak site in 2020.
