June is Pride Month
During Pride Month, the Cultural Corridor takes a different approach. Rather than highlighting individual figures, we focus on places and spaces that have played an important role in LGBTQ+ history, culture, and community. This reflects the reality that many LGBTQ+ individuals throughout history were unable to live openly or safely, and in some cases, publicly identifying individuals without their consent or full historical context can be complex. By exploring affirming places, we recognize the collective contributions, resilience, and experiences of LGBTQ+ communities while honoring the diversity of stories that have shaped their history.
This is by no means a list of every Downtown business that is open, affirming and welcoming (indeed that list is very long).
Pikes Peak Pride: Although no formal landmark pays tribute to Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ history, variations of the Pride Parade and Festival have anchored the community for three decades. While the Pride parade began as a small showing in the early 1990s, the parade and festival have grown to a two-day celebration attracting tens of thousands of people around Alamo Park. For more on Pikes Peak Pride, go here.
Prism Collective: The November 2022 Club Q tragedy created an urgent need for a space that not only offered vital support to survivors and victims’ families but also served as a catalyst for change for the larger LGBTQ+ community in the Pikes Peak Region. Prism is first and foremost, a community center with resources available to those who need it. Learn more here.
ICONS: In late 2020 during the depths of the pandemic, Josh Franklin and John Wolfe opened ICONS, the city’s only gay piano bar, geared toward the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies. Nightly offerings at ICONS include drag cabaret, ticketed concerts, singalongs and more – and don’t be surprised when the wait staff also take the stage with Broadway-caliber songcraft. The business was temporarily displaced due to a fire in their original building but reopened November 2024 in their own building. Learn more HERE.
La Burla Bee (site of the former The Underground): At nearly 12,000 square feet, for many years The Underground was the largest gay nightclub around until closing in 2018. The labyrinthine hot spot at 110 N. Nevada Ave. is now La Burla Bee, an LGBTQ-friendly cabaret and Italian restaurant.
First Congregational Church: This historic Downtown church is a welcome and affirming congregation that strives to be a community where respect and justice are foundational. In fact, debut choral performance by nine gay male parishioners from First Congregational Church was so supported by the congregation that Out Loud Men’s Chorus was formed there in 2006 and continues to perform to this day, utilizing First Congregational Church for rehearsals and concerts. Learn more HERE.
Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado: Launched by the Gill Foundation in 1996, the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado was intentionally first headquartered in Colorado Springs, at 315 E. Costilla St. To date the fund has contributed more than $52 million to a wide variety of nonprofit organizations. The Fund’s Springs office was closed in 2011 and donated one year later to Rocky Mountain PBS to become the Tim Gill Center for Public Media. In late 2019, the Colorado Springs Downtown Development Authority purchased the property is now Artspace, affordable housing for artists. Learn more HERE.
For more information:
The “COS @ 150” exhibit at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum includes information about Amendment 2, which sought to prohibit protection of LGBTQ people from discrimination. Learn more here. https://www.cspm.org/cos-150-story/amendment-2/
Colorado College LGBT Oral History Project
https://sites.coloradocollege.edu/ccspecialcollections/2018/11/02/lgbt-oral-history-project/
Colorado LGBTQ History Project
https://lgbtqcolorado.org/programs/lgbtq-history-project/
Inside Out Youth Services
