Minneapolis Queer Bar Crawl raises funds for Orlando victims

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - For the Twin Cities LGBTQ community, the killings in Orlando have added extra purpose to next weekend’s PRIDE celebration.

Friday night, Flip Phone LGBTQ Events hosted a bar crawl to support the survivors and families of the Orlando shooting massacre.

“The Emergency Minneapolis Queer Bar Crawl” stopped at five bars supporting the community:
Bar 19, The Saloon, Gay 90s, Eagle Bolt Bar, and Lush.

Each of the bar’s managers will donate proceeds to the Equality Florida Pulse Fund. Their participation in the crawl also reinforces the safe spaces they provide.

“The bars aren’t just to go drink and to find somebody to hook up with. It’s actually become kind of like a second home, where you can go sit and relax and spend time with your friends,” said Craig Herrald.

“It’s a way to support and bring people to these spaces,” said owner of Flip Phone LGBTQ Events, Chad Kampe.

The fund has already raised more than $5 million of its $7 million goal.

“LGBTQ safety is a major issue we’re facing as a nation, especially transwomen and transwomen of color are often the #1 homicide rates in the country, so I think it’s something as a country we need to lift up and figure out what we can do to solve this,” said Kampe.

“That could’ve been us, it could’ve been anywhere” said LGBTQ community member Kellen Mahone.

“We are a big united family and if you decide to take on our family we are going to fight back,” said Herrald.

Kampe shared this message on the event’s Facebook page:

“This is a rough time for our community. The events in Orlando are devastating, and members of the LGBTQ community are in pain and mourning. We wanted a chance for members (and allies) to come together to support LOCAL queer establishments and pass along the message, WE ARE STILL HERE.

Dress up. Dress down. Get femmed up. Get butched up. IT doesn't matter, just be YOU. The event is open to anyone who wants to show support for the Twin Cities queer community. Our vision is to have a mass of queers marching from bar to bar, united as one.

We need to dance as a community.

We are going to ask for folks to donate money to the families of Orlando victims to participate on the crawl.

We celebrate the lives of:

Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old

Amanda Alvear, 25 years old

Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old

Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old

Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old

Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old

Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old

Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old