Daniel Aston
Raymond Green Vance
Kelly Loving
Ashley Paugh
Derrick Rump
These people were killed in the attack last Saturday at the Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub, Club Q. At least 19 others were injured, mostly by gunfire. The 22-year-old suspect is being held without bond and faces preliminary charges that include five-charges of first-degree murder and five counts of what they call in Colorado “bias motivated crimes,” –in other words, hate crimes.
The criminal and legal words of this tragedy tend to obscure the deeper cultural dysfunction at work in the U.S. that’s the propellent for these insidious acts. It’s these areas that host Andy Moore explores with Finn Enke, a UW-Madison Professor of History and Gender and Women’s Studies. On this episode of the Friday 8 O’Clock Buzz, Finn and Andy talk about how bigotry from commentators like Matt Walsh, as well as supposed “neutrality” from institutions that provide a platform for them, have contributed towards a cultural climate that delegitimizes trans and non-binary identities and encourages violence against them.
Finn Enke is a professor of both History and Gender and Women’s studies at UW-Madison. They are the director of the undergraduate LGBTQ+ Studies Certificate Program, and primarily study the history of sexuality and gender in the 20th century. Enke has authored more than a dozen published works, and is currently working on two books: Pedagogies of the Impossible: From the Trans on Campus Collection, and a graphic memoir, With Finn and Wing: Archive of an Amphibious Childhood in a Nuclear Age.
Special thanks to Trans Advocacy Madison for their contribution. TAM is a grassroots organization that provides support for trans and non-binary people in the Madison, Wisconsin area. They can be found on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Photo courtesy of Tedd Eytan via Flickr
