Transients, hoboes, and homosexuals used the YMCA as a meeting place for sexual intimacy throughout the twentieth century. Over six feet tall, the 37-year-old stern and stocky ex-marine from Chicago, was sent by the Washington YMCA to take over as executive secretary of the Denver Y. ‘Get rid of the queers,’” according to The Denver Post. Rollen N. As some Y patrons increasingly complained about homosexual acts the operators felt they had to act.Ī new Y director “was given a double-barreled assignment: -Put the Y on a sound financial footing. But such activity did not go unnoticed by the Y’s operators or the local police. Homosexual activity within semi-private meet up places such as the Denver Y was common knowledge among members of Denver’s gay culture. Since that time he has made it a practice to frequent this restroom.” In the third floor men’s restroom, he found a hole cut between the last two toilet stalls.
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Bars were just beginning to open to an exclusively gay clientele and the YMCA was known as a meeting place for homosexuals visiting and living in the “Mile High City.”Īs Mangan writes: “Three years ago ‘R’ went to the central YMCA in Denver. “R” had made frequent visits to the city’s gay sex spots throughout his college career, and stayed at the YMCA.
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“R” as Mangan referred to him, was no stranger to Denver’s burgeoning gay subculture. In 1971, gay journalist Terry Mangan, interviewed a young man with the initials A.J.R., who moved to Denver following his graduation from Colorado College in 1969. Men continued to use the “Y” as a meeting place for sexual relationships. The Denver Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) became one of the first sites of conflict. The “privatizing” of sexual acts-moving them away from free, outdoor spaces-made it more difficult for law enforcement agents to successfully entrap and harass homosexual men. Denver’s elite gay men hoped to move the national conversation on homosexuality away from sexual acts alone. They wanted to present homosexuality as a normal relationship between consenting adults. They aimed to disconnect homosexuality from notions of perversion and prostitution. In response to men’s sexual acts with men in public spaces, middle and upper class gay white men began to advocate for sexual encounters in private or semi-private spaces. The areas around Civic Center Park, the Capitol, and the historic Broadway Avenue were notorious as Denver’s red-light district. Having no separate or safe spaces in Denver, individuals who shared houses, or could not afford private rooms, used the areas around the state capitol building for sexual contacts.
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In 1960 the homosexual bar scene was just beginning to develop. Drag shows, volleyball tournaments, rallies, street fairs, and a rainbow dress contest are some of the highlights of this annual celebration of the gay culture.īesides a thriving nightlife, Denver is home to many attractions, outdoor or indoor.Earlier in Denver’s history, as in other gay communities, sexual acts between men routinely took place in city parks or bathrooms. Capitol Hill is where gay Denver throws its annual PrideFest, an event that draws around 250,000 guests. The bohemian Capitol Hill, Denver’s hub for artists and creative minds, is where most of the gay action takes place. Even places that are not advertised as “gay” are still very gay-friendly. There are few gay-popular neighborhoods, such as Lower Downtown (or LoDo), Capitol Hill, and South Broadway, where you can find anything from art galleries to shops, bars, and restaurants.
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Gay Denver, with its vibrant cultural scene and outdoor recreational options, knows how to appeal to LGBT travelers. As a result, the city has one of the country’s largest gay communities. First, The Mile High City has an average of 300 sunny days, competing with the Sunshine State and second, Denver is an open-minded city, with a laid-back and accepting attitude towards the gay culture. Let’s get our facts straight and our lifestyle gay. The other one is that Denver is a conservative city which lacks an active gay community. The first one is that Denver is an unbearably cold city, covered in deep snow most of the time.
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There are two common misconceptions about Denver that must be corrected.