The Longmont community stood in solidarity with survivors of sexual violence at Thursday’s “Take Back the Night” event.
Held at Front Range Community College’s Boulder County campus, the free event raised awareness of sexual assault and domestic violence by letting guests share their stories and connect with local resources.
“Sexual violence impacts everyone,” and Mary Ann Grim, history and women’s studies professor at FRCC and co-founder of the event. “If not directly, it’s someone you know, someone you love, someone you care about. Nobody wants to talk about it, everybody gets uncomfortable about it, but I’m here to shout about it.”
Take Back the Night is a global movement that aims to bring an end to sexual violence. Thursday was FRCC’s eighth annual Take Back the Night event, organized in part by the college’s Feminist Uprising Collective club.
“A lot of people think Boulder County is this special bubble,” said club member Zach Bell. “This is a nice reminder that we’ve still got work to do here. Despite what we do have, it’s not perfect.”
FRCC observed Take Back the Night with guest speakers, live music and an open mic session for individuals to share their experiences. The open mic was followed by a candlelight vigil honoring victims and survivors of sexual violence.
Several local organizations also had booths at the event, including Moving to End Sexual Assault, Out Boulder County, and A Way Forward. Longmont-based nonprofit Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement has been attending Take Back the Night since it started, returning on Thursday for the eighth year.
“(Telling) the community, and especially college kids, about the resources that are out there is big,” said HOPE shelter director Laura Denton.
This year also featured FRCC’s Latinx Club as a first-time vendor. Club members Prisila Ruvalcaba and Destinee Jimenez-Morales both said they’ve seen sexual violence get treated as a taboo subject when it occurs within families.
“There are a lot of people, women especially, in our culture who are really hush-hush about things,” Ruvalcaba said. “It’s okay to have a voice.”
Thursday’s guest speakers touched on several topics, including human trafficking in Colorado and nearby resources like the Safe Shelter of St. Vrain Valley. Keynote speaker Connie Galindo discussed her job as a forensic nurse examiner and how she creates a safe space for sexual assault survivors.
Longmont city council member Sean McCoy also attended the event and spoke to participants about some of the ways the council is striving to make Longmont a safer place.
“This is the sort of community involvement and community awareness that we absolutely need to have here in Longmont and Boulder County,” McCoy said.
Amy Mann, a communications instructor at FRCC and another co-founder of the event, said that Take Back the Night’s goal is to “shatter the silence” around sexual violence.
“The only way this will ever end is if we talk about it,” Mann said.
