As the clock turned to midnight on November 20, 2022 at Club Q in Colorado Springs – the day honored as Transgender Day of Remembrance – I fell to the ground with bullets in my body. Kelly Loving, a transgender woman celebrating her 40th birthday, landed on me. I tried to help her as I could with paper towels while injured, supplied by the brave surviving bartender who came out of hiding while the bullets were still flying in the other room.

I am a survivor of the tragic attack on Club Q. Since the day this tragedy struck my community my calling has become clear. I must support trans rights in Colorado.

I have lived in Colorado Springs for many years. I have watched mayors, governors, and presidents change. One thing I have not seen change is the way that transgender people are treated in my community.

There are transgender people around me who struggle to find a job where they can be out as themselves. I know transgender people struggling every month to pay rent or get food because they are outsiders in their community.

Trans people in the Springs cannot get healthcare for routine medical struggles because they are discriminated against by their providers. Their doctor will not call them by their name or pronouns – no matter how many times the person asks for it. So they do not get care. They suffer.

There are transgender children in our city who cannot go to school without bullying from adults about their names and how they appear in class. Kids in our community are suffering from going to school. They deserve the same future as any child.

The Kelly Loving Act is simple. It allows trans people to enjoy the same rights as the rest of us.

As a survivor of Club Q, I cannot be silent. I survived for a reason, and that is to fight for trans rights. Support the Kelly Loving Act.

Ed Sanders is a Colorado Springs resident and survivor of the Club Q shooting in November 2022. This article was adapted, with permission from the author, from his testimony on House Bill 1312 at its Colorado State Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, April 30.