Your Guide to Community, Politics, Arts and Culture in North Denver DenverNorthStar.com
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Volume 5, Issue 9
| June 15, 2024-July 14, 2024
Celebrating 50 Years of Pride in Denver
COMMUNITY
Decades of Progress Toward Liberation and Fair Treatment will be Celebrated During this Year’s Pride Month
Readers respond to last month’s “Leash Laws: They’re No Walk in the Park.” PAGE 2 & 3
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ALWAYS FREE!
North Denver Celebrates Pride Saturday, June 15, 2 p.m. to 11:30 p.m Historic Elitch Theatre, 4600 W. 37th Ave. By Kathryn White
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his year’s North Denver Pride festivities include a free, all-ages festival at the Historic Elitch Theatre, a parade along Tennyson Street and an extended screening of the 1995 American comedy “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” starring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo. Read on for details. 2 to 6 p.m., “To Wong Foo” Festival Rainbow Cult will host a free, family friendly festival in front of the historic theater, including vendors, food trucks, drag performances and DJ Buddy Bravo.
POLITICS A Last-Minute Look at Denver’s District Attorney Candidates PAGE 5
COMMUNITY Highlands Street Fair Creates Inspiration and Opportunity for Local Artists PAGE 6
PHOTO BY PHIL NASH
The 1981 Pride Parade passes the corner of East Colfax and Lafayette. Three decades later, the vacant Metropolitan Industrial Bank would be purchased, renovated and transformed into The Center on Colfax, the first building to be owned by the LGBTQ+ organization.
By Natalie Kerr, Special to The Denver North Star n 1976, Christi Layne, the stage name of re“LGBTQ Denver,” which was published in April nowned drag performer Christopher Sloane, this year. stood with one of their best friends at the head In Denver, homosexuality used to be considered a major political and social problem for the of the very first Pride March in Denver, after having gone through some back-and-forth with the city. Police would lure gay men in by advertising city and the state to get a permit. gay-friendly spaces, but once there, the men would They had expected a crowd of 200 people. But find themselves being handcuffed for sodomy. as they looked back at the gathering of more than LGBTQ+ individuals were always in danger, no 1,200, Layne’s friend turned to them and, with matter where they were, Nash said. tears in his eyes, said, “Now I “The vice squad of the Denver Police Department was know I’m not alone.” Though Denver’s first constantly harassing gay bars,” June is observed as national official Pride Parade was Nash said. “They set up mechPride month, with LGBTQ+ community celebrations taking in 1976, a “gay-in” in 1974 anisms to entrap gay men and arrest them, and this got out to place across the nation. Here in Denver, The Center on Col- was a huge turning point the public. They were at risk of fax hosts the region’s largest losing their housing and their for a community that annual Pride event, which has jobs and their reputations.” hadn’t before been able a rich history and roots going In October 1973, the newly founded Gay Coalition back to that first march in 1976. to gather publicly and stormed city hall during a Pride on South Pearl is in its infancy, returning in 2024 for proudly, and is considered council meeting, with men and women demanding safety as its second year with hopes of by many to be the very rightful citizens of the city. surpassing last year’s $5,000 first Pride celebration. Though it didn’t mean comfundraised to support Denver’s LGBTQ+ community. plete safety for the LGBTQ+ In anticipation of these events, LGBTQ+ comcommunity, the protest helped usher in calmer remunity members reminisced on Pride’s histolations with the police, with bars starting to police ry and its importance to a community that had their own establishments and public displays of to fight to be celebrated after centuries of being homosexuality engendering less harassment. forced into shame and secrecy. Though Denver’s first official Pride Parade was in 1976, a “gay-in” in 1974 was a huge turning point A HISTORY OF ACTIVISM for a community that hadn’t before been able to Fifty years ago, clandestine gay and lesbian bars gather publicly and proudly, and is considered by were some of the only safe many to be the very first Pride celebration. spaces for LGBTQ+ people, “It was a family that wasn’t wanted, it was the PRESORTED and even then, the threat of black sheep of the city,” Layne said. “But we were STANDARD a police raid loomed over all together, and in the numbers and the strength U.S. POSTAGE the patrons, said Phil Nash, that that projected, you could feel that there would who served as the first cobe a future.” Denver, CO ordinator of The Center on Nash’s book uses historical images to document Permit No. 2565 Colfax and is the author EDDM See PRIDE, Page 15 of the visual history book
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EDUCATION Beloved Edison Elementary Music Teacher Retires PAGE 9
EDUCATION Marlene De La Rosa Reflects on Recent Months at DPS School Board PAGE 9
TRANSPORTATION ‘Killed by a Traffic Engineer’ Debuts Alongside New CU Denver Program PAGE 11
HEALTH & WELLNESS Your Secret Burnout Buster PAGE 12 Postal Customer
PAID
4 to 5 p.m., Tennyson Street Pride Parade Coordinated by Call to Arms Brewing, join a parade, starting at Natural Grocers and ending at Call to Arms, that features local businesses and breweries going head-to-head in a tiny float competition. 5 to 7 p.m., Call to Arms parade after-party featuring DJ Jen G. 6 to 7 p.m., Film screening doors open. 7 to 7:30 p.m., Film introduction (ticketed event). A history and drag introduction, plus a keynote by drag legend Jessica L’Whor. 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., Screening of “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” (ticketed event). Watch the 1995 classic comedy “To Wong Foo” in the theater where moving pictures were first shown in Colorado. In 1896, Edison’s Vitascope premiered at the Elitch Theatre. And Newmar herself performed at the theatre in 1968. 9:30 to 11 p.m., After-party (film ticket required). Following the film, the day will wrap up with a DJ celebration on the legendary Elitch Theatre stage. For more information and to purchase tickets for the film screening and evening program, visit https://historicelitchtheatre. org/event/2024-pride/ Check out denverpride.org/events to learn about dozens of other Pride events planned for June across the metro area.