The dance floor at Club Cosmos. Formerly located at 1421 SW Lane Street in Topeka, Kansas.
My brother Frank and I used to own a nightclub in Topeka’s College Hill neighborhood named Club Cosmos from 2002-2005. A great deal of our business came from the LGBT community. Rather than a typical bar, it was more of a community center where open minded people could fellowship.
While we were in business, and ever since, I can’t tell you how many people have thanked us for helping them by providing a safe, accepting and supportive place to question their truly difficult feelings. At the time, we knew too many innocent young and old people who were kicked out of their homes to live on the street because they were different… Disowned by their families and some even driven to commit suicide. These human beings were their children and their brothers and their sisters. Jesus spoke of love more than anything else by far… And yet His name is still used to justify these false and evil beliefs… Even the Pope agrees now.
With the redevelopment of College Hill we were essentially forced to close down and move on to different opportunities.
We don’t prefer or discriminate against any type of people. We are all the same. I’m truly grateful that the LGBT community has collectively seen so much more love since we had the final dance at Club Cosmos many years ago. It was a long hard fight. I would not be able to go to sleep at night if I allowed the sacrifices, (made by those who were shamed by loved ones to take those sacrifices) to be in vain. We will not regress our human rights. We will simply not allow it. It’s clear that a growing majority believes this as well.
I don’t care what kind of political distraction is happening in Kansas to cover up something dangerously major for all of us… We will not allow our society to be regressed in the name of misguided politics. I am not attempting to make a political statement, I am merely listening to my conscience and standing up for what I believe is right. Liberty and justice for all.
I will never forget the mother of one young man who stopped by and thanked us for saving her son’s life. She truly gave us that much credit. That’s when I learned firsthand for sure that one or two people, simply doing what is right in their hearts, truly can make a difference. Once you feel that, it’s one of the healthiest vices to be addicted to.
We all have different issues that are near and dear to our hearts. The only way we will see better days in our own individual worlds is if we stand together and speak up for the decisions that our collective conscience justifies as a civilization of people who were created equally.
The 2005 Pride Prom at Club Cosmos. Frank Schultz and Prom Queen Jalisa Taylor.
SchultzBlog.com 