COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — It’s been about 11 months since Natalee Skye last visited the memorial outside Club Q, when she stopped by the site on a cool November afternoon. She is approaching the first year since the horrific shooting that took the life of her best friend. But that’s not why Natalee Skye came to Colorado Springs.
Made the trip for a birthday party.
“I will never forget her birthday and will always celebrate it with her,” Skye said, as she placed a store-bought cake at the foot of Kelly Loving’s photo, which now adorns the side of Club Q along with the other four. killed in mass shooting.
Loving would have turned 41 on November 16, 2023. As Skye took out her lighter, lit a flame, and lit a “41” candle, she remembered how much Loving had done for her personally. Loving was her “trans mother,” she said, helping her transition years ago.
“A trans mother is someone who, like your real mother, takes you under her wing,” Skye said. “They teach you the ropes of how to live day to day and you know what it’s like to be a trans woman.”
Skye spoke to Loving on the phone minutes before she was killed. In the wake of her death, Skye said she has been pushed to become a “stronger person for the trans community” and she is starting a nonprofit to help other transgender women find stable homes.
The ever-growing memorial outside Club Q, in Skye’s eyes, is proof that hate has not prevailed and will not prevail.
“It really made a difference for the better in my life,” she said of Loving. “And I can’t thank her enough.”
Shooting at Club Q
Club D: One year later
Jeff Anastasio 7:43 am, November 17, 2023
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