Celebrating 50 Years of Pride in Denver

Decades of Progress Toward Liberation and Fair Treatment will be Celebrated During this Year’s Pride Month

By Natalie Kerr, Special to The Denver North Star

In 1976, Christi Layne, the stage name of renowned drag performer Christopher Sloane, stood with one of their best friends at the head of the very first Pride March in Denver, after having gone through some back-and-forth with the city and the state to get a permit. 

They had expected a crowd of 200 people. But as they looked back at the gathering of more than 1,200, Layne’s friend turned to them and, with tears in his eyes, said, “Now I know I’m not alone.” 

June is observed as national Pride month, with LGBTQ+ community celebrations taking place across the nation. Here in Denver, The Center on Colfax hosts the region’s largest annual Pride event, which has a rich history and roots going back to that first march in 1976. Pride on South Pearl is in its infancy, returning in 2024 for its second year with hopes of surpassing last year’s $5,000 fundraised to support Denver’s LGBTQ+ community. 

In anticipation of these events, LGBTQ+ community members reminisced on Pride’s history and its importance to a community that had to fight to be celebrated after centuries of being forced into shame and secrecy. 

A history of activism

Fifty years ago, clandestine gay and lesbian bars were some of the only safe spaces for LGBTQ+ people, and even then, the threat of a police raid loomed over the patrons, said Phil Nash, who served as the first coordinator of The Center on Colfax and is the author of the visual history book “LGBTQ Denver,” which was published in April this year. 

In Denver, homosexuality used to be considered a major political and social problem for the city. Police would lure gay men in by advertising gay-friendly spaces, but once there, the men would find themselves being handcuffed for sodomy. LGBTQ+ individuals were always in danger, no matter where they were, Nash said. 

“The vice squad of the Denver Police Department was constantly harassing gay bars,” Nash said. “They set up mechanisms to entrap gay men and arrest them, and this got out to the public. They were at risk of losing their housing and their jobs and their reputations.” 

In October 1973, the newly founded Gay Coalition stormed city hall during a council meeting, with men and women demanding safety as rightful citizens of the city.

Though it didn’t mean complete safety for the LGBTQ+ community, the protest helped usher in calmer relations with the police, with bars starting to police their own establishments and public displays of homosexuality engendering less harassment.

Though Denver’s first official Pride Parade was in 1976, a “gay-in” in 1974 was a huge turning point for a community that hadn’t before been able to gather publicly and proudly, and is considered by many to be the very first Pride celebration. 

“It was a family that wasn’t wanted, it was the black sheep of the city,” Layne said. “But we were all together, and in the numbers and the strength that that projected, you could feel that there would be a future.” 

Nash’s book uses historical images to document this history as part of the 50th anniversary celebration as a direct challenge to people who are trying to suppress LGBTQ+ history and education across the country, he said. 

“It’s long overdue that we have a book available that would work for somebody who just really wants to know the history,” Nash added.

Denver Pride carries on its legacy of activism 50 years later, even as Pride today has evolved to be a spirited, rainbow-filled, month-long party. It continues to raise money for The Center on Colfax, a nonprofit organization supporting the LGBTQ+ community by ensuring community members are safe and supported with resources and education, promoting pro-LGBTQ+ legislation and speaking out against homophobia, said the organization’s CEO Rex Fuller. 

Anti-trans legislation and homophobia has far-reaching and sinister effects. The FBI’s 2022 annual crime report documented 1,947 instances of violence relating to a victim’s sexual orientation — a 13.8% increase from 2021 in reported hate crimes based on sexual orientation and a 32.9% increase in reported hate crimes based on gender identity. 

“The bottom rung of the theatrical ladder is a boy in a dress. The bottom rung of the social community is a boy in a dress. The bottom rung of the straight community is a boy in a dress,” Layne said. 

Though Layne could comfortably take off their dress and heels at the end of their performance, they know transgender people who were isolated and scorned on a daily basis because of their appearance. 

Ruby Slippers is the theme for Layne’s 2024 PrideFest speech. It is a reference to “The Wizard of Oz’’ and an analogy to how LGBTQ+ people have to publicly step into their identity, despite knowing there could be consequences. It was a nerve-wracking decision in 1976, and in the current political climate, it is just as nerve-wracking today, Layne said. 

But a life of secrecy can be the worst fate of all, Layne said. Pride is meant to show people that they are not alone, and that they have a home in the LGBTQ+ community. 

“Just be you, because the exciting part of being you is it doesn’t matter what you wear on the outside, it should reflect who you are,” Layne said. “Have confidence in that always, because if you be you, there’s no place anybody can take you, but home.”

Celebrating the community

The Center on Colfax is hosting its annual Denver PrideFest June 22 and 23. The two-day festival includes the Denver Pride 5K, hundreds of exhibitors and food vendors, live entertainment and the Coors Light Denver Pride Parade. 

Pride is important both for people who have attended dozens of times and for people who have never been to Pride and may be open about their gender or sexuality for the first time, Fuller said. 

“A few years ago, two guys showed up for volunteering. One of them was 18 years old, and the other was 80, and it was for both of them, their first Pride,” Fuller said. 

This year, PrideFest will also recognize its 50-year legacy by honoring key figures in the history of Denver’s LGBTQ+ community, including Layne, Fuller and Nash among others, including some LBGTQ+ elected officials. 

This is also The Center’s main fundraising event, meaning attendance helps support its mission and the well-being of the LGBTQ+ community in Denver. In particular, The Center is hoping to bolster its mental health and youth programs this year with funds raised from the festival. 

The significance of Pride

Every year when Pride comes around, Layne is reminded about what it took to get to this point: the protests and permits, the police and the pushback. But they are also reminded of how many people have stood alongside them to make it possible, and the progress the LGBTQ+ community has made through the decades. 

Back in 1976, despite being a leader in the community, Layne didn’t have a solid idea of what a Pride celebration meant. The definition a friend gave them has stuck ever since. 

“The Declaration of Independence says we all are created equal,” Layne recalled hearing. “Are you treated equally? I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Well, do you think you’re a good person? Are you an asset to this world?’ (I said,) ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘That’s your Pride, and that pride deserves to be shared.’”

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