KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A group of staff at Hamburger Mary’s on Broadway Avenue in midtown gathered Monday afternoon around a fake torso spotted with fake blood stains, cuts and bullet wounds.
Sitting where sequin-clad drag queens performed for brunchgoers sipping mimosas just a day before, Kansas City Police Department officer Rita Olson-Stawicki explained to the group how one would stop the bleeding and apply a tourniquet if the mannequin was a real person.
“I do see a laceration here,” Olson-Stawicki assured them, while pointing to the fake cut and covering it with a tissue. “But what I really see is that I’m saving someone’s life.”
The instruction was part of a new training series the Kansas City Police Department is leading for local LGBTQ businesses. The department is working with the Kansas City Fire Department’s Community Outreach Group and the FBI to offer active shooter, tourniquet and CPR trainings to bar and restaurant staff to “enhance awareness and safety of those in the LGBTQ+ community.”
The mood was a dramatic shift from the pulsing pop music that typically fills the space during weekly drag show bingo nights and karaoke performances. A couple members of the group admitted that the thought of dealing with blood was overwhelming.
“The goal is to be preventative,” said KCPD Police Officer Alex Saragusa. “We’ve all seen what happened this summer with Club Q and things like that.”
A number of bars and clubs that serve LGBTQ patrons across the country have been the victims of violent attacks in recent years. Last year, one man killed five people and wounded 17 others after opening fire on a gay bar in Colorado Springs. Seven years ago, an armed man walked into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida and killed 49 people and left more than 50 wounded.
“In an active shooter situation, seconds matter, and giving them the opportunity to know how to apply tourniquets, give CPR and give vital first aid can save lives,” Saragusa said.
Hamburger Mary’s managing owner Jeff Edmondson said the training is important for his staff because he feels that gay bars have become targets for anti-LGBTQ hate crimes.
“Sadly, in the last couple of years, the idea of being able to take out your hate on whatever group it might be seems to have been given license in the current political environment that we live within,” Edmondson said.
The political environment he’s referring to is particularly tense in Missouri. This year, Missouri lawmakers have filed the most anti-LGBTQ bills of any state, according to a database from the American Civil Liberties Union that tracks legislation nationwide.
“This is the most dangerous session we’ve seen in Missouri in years,” Shira Berkowitz, senior director of policy and advocacy for PROMO Missouri, an LGBTQ advocacy group, told The Star.
Some Missouri lawmakers have also been quick to capitalize on, and denounce, reports of drag shows throughout the state. Republicans have used the shows to promote legislation that would ban children from viewing the performances.
Hamburger Mary’s is a popular venue for drag shows in Kansas City, with brunch shows on the weekends and other performances each week, with many regularly selling out.
While Republicans say the shows are too obscene to be viewed by kids, Democrats and LGBTQ rights advocates say the ongoing push to target the performances are part of a broader conservative attack on the LGBTQ community.
“I think it’s important to have your staff ready for anything that might happen,” Edmondson said, who also owns Woody’s KC at 3740 Broadway Avenue. He said he plans to do a similar training annually to make sure that new staff get the same training, and that older staff get a routine refresher on how to apply life-saving first aid.
Being ready for the worst case scenario
Monday’s session at Hamburger Mary’s showed staffers how to apply hands-only CPR on both adults and babies. Jimmy Walker, the KCFD assistant fire chief, said many people think they need a special certification or need to give mouth to mouth to administer CPR, but there are some basic, hand-only approaches to CPR that anyone can use to save a life.
“What our goal is, is to get everyone in our city trained on the hands-only CPR technique, there’s no licensure that goes with it,” said Walker. “The sooner that we can address somebody when they go into cardiac arrest, the higher the likelihood of them surviving that incident.”
In addition to the tourniquet and CPR training, KCPD led an active shooter training and an assessment of the bar, which highlighted security concerns and strategies in case of emergency.
KCPD Sergeant Steve Schramm said there are two main tips for anyone concerned with being prepared for an active shooter situation: Know where your exits are and how to get to them, and take note of any rooms that could be good for hiding or barricading.
The FBI also led training on hate crimes and how to identify and report them.
“We want to make sure that they know that their voice will be heard, that we are here to listen to any potential issues that they have and that we want to partner with them to make sure they are heard,” said Dixon Land, FBI Public Affairs Specialist in Kansas City’s Field Office.
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(The Star’s Kacen Bayless and Jonathan Shorman contributed reporting.)
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