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

Date2	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
1969-12-27	"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

Date6	Event	File
1971-01-01	The Community Action Project, including gay Chicano activist Donaciano Martinez, founds the Colorado Springs Free Clinic which would go on to become Peak Vista.	Colorado Springs Free Clinic
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.	The Purple Cow
1971-10-17	The Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs holds its first political education class on gay liberation. In attendance were people who were involved in the black movement, the chicano movement, GI organizing, women's liberation, the poverty program, and the movement to free Angela Davis and other political prisoners.	Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs
1971-11-06	The Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs marches in an anti-war protest in Denver, alongside the Denver and Fort Collins fronts.	Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs
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
1971-12-14	The Colorado College Campus Association meets to discuss the chartering of the Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs, which now consists of both community members and Colorado College. The student government approves the request at the meeting, but the decision is vetoed by the President of the college, Lloyd Worner. Protests ensue in the coming weeks and months, encouraged by national GLF figures like Jack Baker.	Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs

1973

Date1	Event	File
1973-01-01	In the Spring of this year, the Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs held a protest at Colorado Springs City Hall to address the police harassment that had been going on outside of the local bars. The organization referred to it as the "1973 Witch Hunt." The media refused to cover it, and the more moderate gay men in the community found the move too controversial.	Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs

1974

Date1	Event	File
1974-06-17	Victoria Henderson, a black trans woman, is murdered by a Fort Carson soldier, George W. Phelps, at 610 S. Union Blvd.	Victoria Owens

1975

Date3	Event	File
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.	Marriage of David McCord and David Zamora
1975-11-01	The Box Car Opens.	The Box Car

1976

Date3	Event	File
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
1976-07-01	A hearing is held at the IRS National Office regarding the IRS' decision to revoke the Lambda Services Bureau's 501(c)3 status.	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." The event was hosted by Shel Anderson and Mike Brown (Nikki Lee), the Count and Contessa of Southern Colorado.	The Box Car

1977

Date3	Event	File
1977-06-12	The Hide & Seek hosts the first annual Lambda Awards event, in which gay businesses across Colorado would select winners from various categories.	Lambda Awards
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.	Little Bill Douglas

1979

Date2	Event	File
1979-06-25	At the meeting of the Gay Community Center of Colorado, the PPGCC was officially recognized as an affiliate.	Colorado Springs Pride Center
1979-10-11	The first board is appointed to the Pikes Peak Gay Community Center.	Colorado Springs Pride Center

1980

Date1	Event	File
1980-11-05	The Box Car bar is intentionally set on fire, according to investigators' findings.	The Box Car

1981

Date2	Event	File
1981-06-05	First noted outbreak of HIV/AIDS, which would go on to devastate the gay community for decades to come.	AIDS Epidemic
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

Date1	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

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. He is memorialized in The AIDS Quilt.	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

1988

Date1	Event	File
1988-09-01	Modesto performs at an AIDS benefit fundraiser in drag. This would later be used against him when he is court martialed.	Edward Modesto

1990

Date2	Event	File
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
1990-10-22	The trial of Edward Modesto begins. Modesto faces nine counts of doncut unbecoming of an officer for engaging in homosexual acts, and two counts of indecent exposure for performing in drag at the Hide & Seek.	Edward Modesto

1992

Date1	Event	File
1992-11-01	Amendment 2 passes, which amended the Colorado state constitution to make it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation. This gained Colorado the name "The Hate State."	Passage of Amendment 2

1996

Date2	Event	File
1996-01-01	LisaJo Laptad and Christina Danielle found the Southern Colorado Intraregional Transgendered Society, which would later become Peak Area Gender Expressions.	Peak Area Gender Expressions
1996-05-20	The Supreme Court strikes down Amendment 2, ruling it unconstitutional.	Passage of Amendment 2

2007

Date1	Event	File
2007-01-01	Focus on the Fabulous by Matt Kailey 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

2015

Date1	Event	File
2015-01-08	The Pikes Peak Pride Center closes its doors after 36 years of operation.	Colorado Springs Pride Center

2016

Date1	Event	File
2016-02-05	First ever Queer Open Mic at Mountain Fold Books	Keep Colorado Springs Queer

2022

Date1	Event	File
2022-11-19	Anderson Lee Aldrich enters the Club Q bar and nightclub and commits a mass shooting which injures 25 and kills 5. Daniel Davis Aston, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, Derrick Rump, and Raymond Green Vance lost their lives.	Shooting at Club Q

This timeline is incomplete and being added to on a regular basis. Want something added? Contribute to the project and let us know!