Overview:
This year, Denver Pride moves to 16th Street, as LGBTQ advocates emphasize the importance of "visibility" and resistance.
Denver Pride has begun its 52nd year, and this year’s celebration will be a little different.
Instead of centering the festival in Civic Center Park, Denver PrideFest will take place Sunday, June 28, along 16th Street from Broadway to Arapahoe Street because of ongoing construction at Civic Center. The Denver Pride Parade will also follow a different route, traveling along 17th Avenue from Franklin Street to Lincoln Street.
The changes come as The Center on Colfax, which organizes Denver Pride, expands Pride programming beyond the traditional festival weekend. This year’s calendar includes more than two dozen LGBTQ events and gatherings across Denver throughout June.
“We tried to come up with really great ways that the community had asked for us to engage in Pride,” said Kim Salvaggio, CEO of The Center on Colfax, which organizes Pride. “So really we went from 22 hours over the last weekend in June, which is what we’ve historically done, and now we’re up to over 100 hours of Pride programming this month.”
The shift is largely logistical. Civic Center Park is under construction, making it impossible to host the kind of large-scale festival Denver Pride has held there in previous years. But the move also comes during a politically tense year for LGBTQ communities, as advocates point to anti-LGBTQ legislation nationally and two Colorado ballot measures focused on transgender youth.
“We have two ballot measures this year, Ballot Measures 109 and 110, which are extremely dangerous for LGBTQ people,” Salvvaggio said. “So (Pride) is a way for us to come together in that visibility and fight and continue to hold our freedoms and liberties.”
For Brian Odom, who participated in the REI + Denver Pride training run, Pride remains deeply personal.
“I was raised in the South, which is very conservative, and I didn’t feel necessarily comfortable coming out when I was a teenager or in college, but I think living here in Colorado, I’ve been out since I was in my mid-20s, and I’m 54 now,” Odom said. “So I think just having that community where you feel comfortable and you’ve got people who are similar to you and have similar viewpoints and care about the same things is important.”
Even with that sense of belonging, Odom said he worries about younger LGBTQ people coming of age amid renewed political hostility.
“With the current administration — with what feels like people who are conservative and on the right feeling more emboldened and empowered to push their kind of discriminatory and prejudicial feelings — I think it’s very important for that visibility, particularly for younger people who are teenagers or in their early 20s,” Odom said. “They’re trying to kind of figure out who they are and where they fit into the world, and I think being able to see a community that is visible and that they can be a part of makes them feel like they’re a part of that community. I think that is so important.”
Odom notes that, while Pride has always been important, this year feels different.
“I mean, it’s always been important to have that visibility for Pride, but it just feels extra important right now, given the kind of pushback that we’re getting from the right,” Odom said. “I just think it’s maybe more (important) now than ever in my life.”
That concern for younger LGBTQ people is also central to Kim Dillon’s work. Dillon is one of the Colorado leaders for Free Mom Hugs, a volunteer organization that supports LGBTQ people through visibility, acceptance, and, often, literal hugs.
“I have two daughters that are both LGBTQIA, so automatically I was just drawn to this organization,” Dillon said. “I actually lost my oldest daughter to suicide in 2018. She was trans, her name was Rivena Dillon, and so that just really precipitated my desire to get involved and make a difference and sort of create a legacy for her.”
Dillon said transgender people have faced especially intense attacks, making visible allyship more important.
“I feel like the transgender community has taken a lot of hits, and they’ve been a target to a ton of vitriol and hate, which is a big reason why we, as allies, need to get out there and make sure that they know that that is a minority of people who feel that way,” Dillon said. “The majority of us care and have love in our hearts and want to support and hold the trans community.”
To Dillon, the significance of Pride is to make a strong public statement that LGBTQ people and their supporters are still here.
“I think it is an opportunity to connect as a community and celebrate,” Dillon said. “It’s showing that this community is not going away, and it’s an opportunity for folks to stand together and celebrate each other.”
For people who feel vulnerable or unsure about attending Pride, Dillon said there is no single right way to be visible. Safety and self-acceptance matter, too.
“I think I would mainly just want them to know that they are loved and they are seen,” Dillon said. “There’s no right or wrong way to be, or to present, or to come out; it’s whatever is safe for them, but there is a lot of love waiting for them, and love for them just as they are.”
