A Timeline of Colorado Springs Queer History
Below is a query of all dated bullet points from across this database. It is in development. Please note that the omission of any events or dates is due to the research being an ongoing effort, and is not a reflection of an event's significance. You can help us create a more complete timeline by contributing to the project.
1878
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1878-07-01 | A group of horse thieves who had been active in the southern and western parts of the state are intercepted by vigilantes. One of the horse thieves is killed by gunfire, and it is revealed that they were assigned female at birth, and dressed in male attire. | The Horse Thief of 1878 |
1893
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1893-01-01 | During her summer teaching English at Colorado College, Katharine Lee Bates pens "America the Beautiful," inspired by a trip to the top of Pikes Peak. | Katharine Lee Bates |
1899
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1899-06-30 | Helen Thompson is arrested for masquerading in male attire. "The gay Helen was also packing a gun," as reported by the Cripple Creek Weekly Tribune & Advertiser. | Helen Thompson |
1948
| Date2 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1948-01-01 | Barbara Grier and her family move to Colorado Springs. She starts attending Colorado Springs High School (now called Palmer High School). She is frequently at-odds with her counselors, who are distressed by her open lesbianism. | Barbara Grier |
| 1948-01-01 | Barbara Grier is taken from school and questioned by two Colorado Springs police officers about her lesbianism. She is told to stay away from the young woman who reported her, as well as her workplace, the Peak Theater. | Barbara Grier |
1949
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1949-01-01 | Barbara Grier steals her local library's only copy of The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall. This may have been Penrose. Still researching. | Barbara Grier |
1959
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1959-11-01 | The Denver Mattachine newsletter publishes an account by a man named Stanley Norman about how he was tricked and harassed by someone who claimed to be an undercover military cop from Camp Carson. Upon asking the Colorado Springs Police Department, Stanley finds out the man was not actually a cop. | Stanley Norman |
1965
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1965-01-01 | Date approximate. According to her own account, Elvira starts performing at The Purple Cow at the age of 14. She stands in for a drag queen who had to call out one night, but soon becomes a regular part of the act. This precedes the official opening announcement of The Purple Cow. Working to figure out this discrepancy. | The Purple Cow |
1969
| Date3 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1969-07-04 | The Purple Cow changes hands from Karen Muir Davis to Gerda Luck, and changes from serving New Orleans Cuisine to German. Under Gerda Luck's ownership, the club begins to host some of the first drag shows in Colorado Springs. | The Purple Cow |
| 1969-09-05 | UU minister James Stoll comes out at the annual Continental Conference of Student Religious Liberals, making him the first ordained minister in the US or Canada to publicly come out. He later led the effort to convince the UU Association to pass the first-ever gay rights resolution in , and he founded the first counseling center for gays and lesbians in San Francisco. | La Foret Conference Center |
| 1969-12-27 | "The Family," an LA-based drag troupe under the direction of Robert Juleff, is performing in Colorado Springs. I am unsure when their time at the Purple Cow started or ended. Elvira, Cassandra Peterson at the time, begins to perform alongside them. | The Purple Cow |
1971
| Date2 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1971-08-01 | The Purple Cow changed hands to Gabe Duenas and became "The Critic's Choice." It was also called "Beefeaters II." Gabe cites issues with the venue's reputation as a "loser's place" because of its changing ownership and history as a strip club. 7 | The Purple Cow |
| 1971-11-06 | Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs marches down Colfax alongside the Boulder and Fort Collins chapters, carrying a handmade sign and chanting to protest the Vietnam war. | Donaciano Martinez |
1972
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1972-12-11 | Colorado College holds a symposium about "Same-Sex Lifestyles," featuring national figures like Jack Baker and Dr. Mark Friedman. The symposium was in response to the growing unrest between the student body, president Worner, and the Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs when Worner vetoed the student government's decision to charter the Gay Liberation Front as a campus group. 3 | Colorado College |
1973
| Date2 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1973-01-01 | First annual Mr. Jockey Shorts contest at The Hide & Seek | Mr. Jockey Shorts Contest |
| 1973-09-01 | Colorado College launches its first Women's Studies class, developed by one of the few women professors at the time and the teaching collective with Colorado Springs Women's Health. | Colorado College |
1975
| Date5 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1975-01-01 | Poor Richard's opens in downtown Colorado Springs. | Poor Richards |
| 1975-03-06 | The Lambda Services Bureau is founded by Dorothy Bell, Donaciano Martinez, and Malachi Truman Harris. | Lambda Services Bureau |
| 1975-03-26 | David McCord and David Zamora make national news as the first same-sex couple in Colorado history to get a marriage license. | David McCord and David Zamora |
| 1975-11-01 | The Box Car Opens. 3 | The Box Car |
| 1975-11-15 | The El Paso County Democratic Party 1 votes, 36 to 17, to exclude gay people from their affirmative action plan. | El Paso County Democratic Party |
1976
| Date5 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1976-01-01 | Bob Neu, third place winner of Mr. Gay Colorado | The Box Car |
| 1976-03-06 | The IRS revokes the Lambda Services Bureau's 501(c)3 status because the organization refused to state that homosexuality was a "sickness, disturbance, or a diseased pathology." | Lambda Services Bureau |
| 1976-06-06 | Count and Countess Shel Anderson and Nicki Lee announce the founding of the Southern Colorado auxiliary court to the Rocky Mountain Empire that would come to be known as the United Court of the Pikes Peak Empire. | United Court of the Pikes Peak Empire |
| 1976-07-01 | Hearing is held at the IRS National Office regarding the IRS' decision. | Lambda Services Bureau |
| 1976-11-21 | The Box Car hosted the Ms. Gay Colorado contest. The event was sponsored by the Royal Sub-court of the United Court of Southern Colorado. According to Out Front, the event was the "first gay women's title event that this paper has ever heard of in the U.S."1 The event was hosted by Shel Anderson and Mike Brown (Nikki Lee), the Count and Contessa of Southern Colorado. | The Box Car |
1977
| Date2 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1977-08-01 | The 501(c)3 status of the Lambda Services Bureau is reinstated. | Lambda Services Bureau |
| 1977-11-01 | The Lambda Services Bureau dissolves. | Lambda Services Bureau |
1978
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1978-09-01 | Sergeant Bill Douglas protests the army dragging their feet on discharging him for being gay by going into the Fort Carson mess hall in full drag. | Bill Douglas |
1981
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1981-07-27 | KKTV airs a 4-night news special over the course of the week called "Gays in Colorado Springs." | Gays in Colorado Springs by KKTV |
1984
| Date2 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1984-01-22 | The Pikes Peak Gay Community Center opens the Lambda Resource Center at 729 1/2 W Colorado Ave. It was its first building, which housed the library, offices for the board of directors and the helpline. | Colorado Springs Pride Center |
| 1984-11-23 | Ricky Morris receives a diagnosis of HIV. | Ricky Morris |
1985
| Date7 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1985-01-01 | The Source releases its first issue. | The Source |
| 1985-01-01 | Alan Wakefield approaches the Pikes Peak Gay Community Center with the idea of the center's helpline sponsoring a block party. This led to the first Center Block Party, Alive With Pride in '85. This sparked an annual tradition. | Alan Wakefield |
| 1985-05-10 | Excel, a weekend conference for gay and lesbian Christians, is attended by 57 gay men and women from across the region. The conference takes place at La Foret Conference Center. | Excel |
| 1985-07-15 | The 501 N Foote STI clinic starts to offer testing for HIV/AIDS, alongside 7 other clinics across the state of Colorado. | 501 N Foote Clinic |
| 1985-09-01 | Don Thomas passes away at 39 from AIDS. | Don Thomas |
| 1985-11-02 | Ricky Morris passes away of AIDS at the age of 32. | Ricky Morris |
| 1985-11-17 | The Gazette runs the article RICKY: Life and Death with AIDS, written by Cate Terwilliger. | Ricky Morris |
1987
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1987-11-14 | The Colorado College Board of Trustees approved the following statement to their college catalog and administrative handbooks, making the school the first in Colorado to adopt such a policy, according to a school official at the time: "The policy of Colorado College is not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, ational origin, sexual orientation, or handicap." | Colorado College |
1990
| Date3 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1990-01-01 | IOYS is founded by Regina Dipadova. | Inside Out Youth Services |
| 1990-02-01 | Alan Wakefield passes away due to HIV/AIDS. The Pikes Peak Gay Community Center's block party that year was dedicated to him, in honor of him starting the tradition. | Alan Wakefield |
| 1990-03-17 | The Colorado Gay Rodeo Association holds a "True Colors" show. Deemed a huge success.2 | Colorado Gay Rodeo Association |
1991
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1991-04-01 | Abaton Books, a bookstore for lesbians and gays, opens in Old Colorado city. | Abaton Books |
1993
| Date3 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1993-01-01 | The Colorado Springs Independent is founded | Colorado Springs Independent |
| 1993-09-25 | Seven members of the Lesbian Avengers are arrested at the Focus on the Family opening ceremony. Seven other members had tickets to the event. Four were led off the property, three were arrested under investigation of disorderly conduct. Named in the October 11, issue of Stonewall News: Tressa Priest of Manitou Springs. 1 | Lesbian Avengers |
| 1993-10-25 | The Lesbian Avengers appear in court regarding their demonstration at the Focus on the Family opening ceremony. 1 | Lesbian Avengers |
1995
| Date2 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1995-01-01 | Abaton Books closes. | Abaton Books |
| 1995-06-16 | New Phazes art show opening reception at the Pikes Peak Gay Community Center, Bijou and Parkside. Mentioned also were accompanying special events at The Penthouse Lounge and the The Hide & Seek. | New Phazes |
1998
| Date2 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1998-02-04 | The restaurant, named part of the Pikes Peak Gay Community Center, opens at E Fountain Blvd. | Backstreets Restaurant |
| 1998-10-31 | Backstreets Restaurant hosts a Gay Youth Halloween Party. | Backstreets Restaurant |
2000
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2000-08-20 | The 20th-27th are proclaimed Pridefest Celebration week by Mayor Mary Lou Makepeace, in honor of the The Pikes Peak Gay & Lesbian Community Center. | Mary Lou Makepeace |
2001
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2001-06-01 | Backstreets Restaurant dissolves. | Backstreets Restaurant |
2006
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2006-11-01 | The Born Different campaign launches. | Born Different and The Dog That Moos |
2007
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2007-01-01 | Focus on the Fabulous is published. | Focus on the Fabulous |
2008
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2008-10-11 | The Colorado Springs Pride Center releases its anthology Colors of Courage - Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Life in Colorado Springs. | Colors of Courage - Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Life in Colorado Springs |
2012
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2012-06-13 | Colorado Springs School District 11 votes to include gender expression, identity, transgender status, and sexual orientation in anti-disctimination and harassment policies pertaining to students and staff, with input from the Pikes Peak Safe at Schools Coalition | Inside Out Youth Services |
2014
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2014-09-01 | Mountain Fold Books formed. | Mountain Fold Books |
2015
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2015-01-01 | IOYS moves to its new location at 412 S Tejon St. Colorado Springs, CO. 80903, at the corner of Tejon and Costilla. | Inside Out Youth Services |
2016
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2016-11-10 | Ashley's ever feature, which took place at Keep Colorado Springs Queer at Rooted Studio. | Ashley Cornelius |
2017
| Date5 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-03-08 | "Emma Oosterhous webcomic tells stories of LGBTQ youth." Ollie Glessner. Published in the Colorado Springs Independent. | Queer & There |
| 2017-04-04 | The Quaill Club, an intentional living space for queer artists, is founded and the original members start moving in. | The Quaill Club |
| 2017-04-12 | "Mani Queen talks drag and the Springs scene." Nico Wilkinson. | Queer & There |
| 2017-06-07 | "How many times must I mourn this year." Nico Wilkinson. | Queer & There |
| 2017-11-10 | Mountain Fold Books closes. | Mountain Fold Books |
2018
| Date4 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-01-17 | “Local Poet Releases Book Exploring Transness, Trains and Identity." Sean Beedle. | Queer & There |
| 2018-01-17 | Mackenzie Beninati releases her book Sexy Train Things at a Keep Colorado Springs Queer open mic at The Quaill Club. | Mackenzie Beninati |
| 2018-08-30 | . - “Drag Queen Story Time Causes Controversy, Organizers Push Ahead.” Ollie Glessner. | Queer & There |
| 2018-11-14 | "Brianna Titone is Colorado's first transgender legislator." Ollie Glessner. | Queer & There |
2019
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-12-04 | "Wednesday Munster gender-bends drag". Keeley Griego. | Queer & There |
2022
| Date2 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-01-01 | I knew these photos looked familiar. Reminds me of the queer caregivers retreat that Rev. Mallory Everhart hosted after the Club Q shooting at the same location. -Nico Wilkinson | Excel |
| 2022-01-01 | Photos from Caregivers retreat for a little then/now scene? | Excel |
2026
| Date1 | Event | File |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-02 | Poor Richard's is sold to new owners, | Poor Richards |