In response to a rise in anti-trans and anti-drag legislation across the country and instances of local discrimination, LGBTQ+ advocates are strengthening their commitment to safe spaces in the Roaring Fork Valley.
On a recent Wednesday night, a group of about twenty local residents sat in a circle under a large Pride flag at a “Queers and Coffee” meetup at the Bluebird Café in Glenwood Springs.
The new weekly gathering is hosted by local nonprofit Cook Inclusive with support from AspenOUT; it provides a chance for LGBTQ+ people and allies to hang out and drink coffee or beer and get to know each other.
In the spirit of inclusivity, the meetup is also a chance to practice Spanish and American Sign Language with the Roaring Fork Valley ASL group.
On this particular night, participants were learning how to sign their favorite color.
“My favorite color is light blue and green together,” said Travis Dean Wilson. “I don’t know if there’s a way to say ‘aquamarine’?”
Wilson lives in Glenwood Springs and is a member of the local drag performance group, The Roaring Divas.
“I come to the Bluebird Café a lot because they have a lot of LGBTQ-friendly events going on, like ‘Queers and Coffee,’ and we have drag shows here,” he said. “Bishop is just one of the best allies you could ever ask for. I feel safe here and a lot of people do as well.”
Local resident Justin Bishop took over the Bluebird Café a little over a year ago — and he takes his role as a business owner and an ally seriously.
“Having a safe place isn't just being able to come in and be yourself,” he said. “It is a space where you know that someone is going to support you for being yourself.”
Bishop has experienced discrimination himself, and knows what it’s like to feel unwelcome in some spaces.
“I do identify with the struggle, being a black kid from the South,” he said. “I understand being ridiculed or being judged on what you look like, or something like that, and not really who you are or your character.”
Last summer, Bishop and local LGBTQ+ advocates hosted an afterparty at the first-ever Glenwood Pride celebration.
While the event was mostly a joyful one, it also received some backlash.
“I did have some people come in and yell obscene things and basically try to scare us,” he said. “But I'm the type of person that’s like, ‘All right, I need to double down.’ That's why my pride flag has been flying since last year.”
In November, residents held a vigil at the Bluebird Café for the victims of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs.
And this spring, Bishop opened his doors to a drag storytime event for kids and their parents.
Members of The Roaring Divas drag group read queer-inclusive, age-appropriate children’s books in English and Spanish.
Local drag queen Zen Fatale said providing community to kids has always been her dream.
“I just love being able to be that space for younger queer people that I didn't always have,” Fatale said.
But she said the organizers also had to think about safety.
There was a security guard at the door and an evacuation plan for the kids and their families if something terrible were to happen.
“I have always said that drag is inherently political,” Fatale said. “My very existence is political and not politicized by me.”
Fatale is grateful to live in a state that has so far protected her rights, but in just the last year, she and her fellow advocates have seen community members discriminate against LGBTQ+ people on social media and at local school and library board meetings.
She said last year’s Pride threats at the Bluebird Café and the Club Q shooting are evidence that even safe spaces are at risk.
“It's heartbreaking. It's enraging. It's all of the emotions you can imagine,” she said. “We live in a lovely bubble here, but we are not safe either.”
Fatale said safe spaces can save lives, but she’s aware that even the term “safe spaces” can evoke a negative reaction for some people.
“People can mock the term because anything that becomes overused can be weaponized,” she said. “You know, ‘Ooh, you need your safe space.’ Well, yeah, so that I'm not on the street where you can attack me physically—queer people across the country are still being killed.”
Fatale said living under this constant threat and seeing discriminatory Tweets from local politicians like Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, also takes an emotional toll—especially on young people.
According to the crisis support nonprofit The Trevor Project, LGBTQ+ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers.
Longtime Basalt resident Kathy Potter experienced this reality firsthand when she lost her son, Jack Raife, to suicide in April.
“Jack was an incredible young man—vibrant, vivacious. He played the piano, he played the drums and one thing that always consistently comes up was his passion for fashion,” she said. “He came out as gay very proudly in seventh grade.”
Potter said her son had a lot of friends, but he also felt isolated here in the valley and struggled with mental health challenges.
“I think he felt alone being one of the only few gay kids that were out in seventh, eighth, ninth, and 10th grade at Basalt schools,” she said. “I also think that the political climate around being gay now in the United States is a very difficult situation to navigate, even as an adult, but especially as a young teenager.”
Over 400 community members showed up to Jack’s memorial service this spring and many of them wanted to help.
The outpouring of support inspired Potter and her family to set up the Jack Raife Memorial Fund with AspenOUT to help other young LGBTQ+ youth who are dealing with mental health challenges.
“You know, after we lost Jack, we could either let this destroy our family or we can figure out how to try to put this energy into saving other kids,” she said. “And it gives my life and my trajectory a whole new purpose now, you know?”
Potter and local advocacy groups also met with students to talk about what resources and support they’d like to see in the valley.
“One of the things was to have a space mid-valley, so that kids from, say, Parachute to Aspen can take the bus close enough to a main bus terminal, where then they can walk safely,” she said.
The students envisioned that the space could have art classes and also offer activities like whitewater rafting.
“I just know that had that been available, especially when Jack was younger, you know, he would've definitely loved to have participated in something like that,” Potter said.
For all the work that still needs to be done, Potter is glad to see more safe spaces like the Bluebird Café popping up and more resources becoming available.
Local groups such as Cook Inclusive Company, AspenOUT, PFLAG Roaring Fork Valley, and Gay 4 Good Rocky Mountains all offer support and community events for people of all ages.
Allies like Bishop are also calling on other organizations and businesses to step up and do more than just fly a Pride flag in the window.
“Make sure you support these groups because these are the ones that are supporting the community,” he said. “And it is not just the LGBTQ+ community. This is our community. We are all in this together and let's make it a good ride.”
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which provides support in both Spanish and English.
You can also go to The Trevor Project website for LGBTQ+ youth. The nonprofit offers 24/7 crisis counseling via text, phone call, or online chat.
Copyright 2023 Aspen Public Radio.