Author Phil Nash talks about Denver’s LGBTQ+ history in his new book

DENVER — The first-ever director of the Center on Colfax, which provides resources, programs and services for Denver’s queer community, recently released a new book called “LGBTQ Denver.” The book aims to educate people about Denver’s LGBTQ+ history, which dates back to at least the 1970s.

Phil Nash has worked as a gay rights activist, reporter, photojournalist, communications strategist, and most recently as an author throughout his life. His work has made gay rights what it is today.

Richard Butler

“I read in OUT FRONT (magazine) that a group of people had come together to start a gay community center in Denver. And I thought, I want to be a part of it,” Nash said.

After volunteering for the center for about a year, he was appointed its first director.

“The biggest impact we had … we were there to help people come out. One thing that really catalyzed the center and the whole movement here in Denver happened in June of 1977. That was the Save Our Children campaign down in Florida,” he said, referring to the campaign by singer and former Miss Oklahoma Anita Bryant.

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The goal was to repeal a Miami county ordinance that protected homosexuals from discrimination in job and housing. Bryant’s efforts drew the attention of the anti-gay movement across the country and sparked gays and lesbians working together on a national level to fight back.

In the early 1980s, Nash left the Center and began reporting for OUT FRONT Magazine.

“We had already heard about this new disease that was affecting gay men. Gay publications began to publish obituaries. It became a service to the community to report on people who had died of AIDS because many people would not have known what had happened to their friends otherwise. This fueled the right-wing religious anti-gay sentiments that still exist today but were particularly pronounced in the 1980s,” Nash said.

Phil Nash

In 1990, Nash began working as a speechwriter for Denver’s first Hispanic mayor, Federico Peña. Peña’s election was crucial for Denver because it proved that a candidate with the support of the LGBTQ+ community could win an election.

“Peña built a coalition of Latinos, blacks, women, environmentalists and LGBT people and surprised everyone by winning the election. It created a whole new vision for the city of Denver,” Nash said. “You couldn’t find politicians who wanted the help of the gay and lesbian community. We were the death knell for every politician.”

In 1992, Colorado residents voted to adopt the Second Amendment, which would repeal current civil rights protections based on sexual orientation and prevent the implementation of any new protections.

“This was devastating to our community. It was as if our people began to question whether their own family members had voted to take away their rights,” Nash said.

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After the amendment’s passage failed to deter activists here in Denver, a lawsuit was filed against it and a Denver judge declared it unconstitutional. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, where the Denver judge agreed that Amendment 2 was unconstitutional.

“If this amendment had been successful here, the religious conservatives would have taken it to other states and tried to pass it,” Nash said. “In my life, I have gone from not knowing what it meant to be gay to making it easier for gay people to come out and live full and happy lives.”

Phil Nash’s book “LGBTQ Denver” can be purchased in bookstores or through his publisher Arcadia Publishing.

Richard Butler