Colorado LGBTQ+ advocacy organization to stop in Edwards on statewide tour

One Colorado, a state LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, is stopping through Eagle County as part of a statewide tour to connect and rally with Colorado’s LGBTQ+ communities.  

“While Colorado proudly boasts some of the strongest protections in the United States for the LGBTQ+ community, we are facing an increase of dehumanizing attacks here in Colorado and throughout the country,” said Nadine Bridges, One Colorado’s executive director.

With the tour, the organization is hoping to “talk to Coloradans about how these attacks have impacted them, their communities and families, and provide an opportunity to organize for a brighter future,” Bridges added.

The threat to the LGBTQ+ community is epitomized in the over 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in states across the United States, Bridges said. The ACLU is currently tracking over 500 of these bills, which cover topics like schools and education, health care, civil rights, public accommodations, free speech and more.

And while Colorado’s “pro-equality legislatures” have blocked passage of these bills here, other states are “actively passing” these policies, she said. And, Colorado has not remained completely insulated from these issues.

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This includes the June 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis case, which started in Colorado and ultimately held that the website design company could deny services to same-sex couples. This ruling, Bridges said “is part of a bigger strategy to weaken fundamental rights and protections for our communities.”

Additionally, Bridges noted that “Colorado also has a ban on same-sex marriage enshrined in the constitution.”

“Amendment 43, narrowly passed in 2006, defines marriage as between one man and one woman. If the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court Case Obergefell is overturned at the federal level, same-sex Coloradans would not be allowed to get married in the future,” she continued.

These are just some of the reasons behind One Colorado’s statewide tour, which will make 15 stops across the Front Range and Western Slope to discuss “the importance of continuing to organize for issues that impact the LGBTQ+ community,” Bridges said.

One Colorado will be at The Bookworm of Edwards on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m. in partnership with Mountain Pride. The event will kick off with a talk from Bridges on what the organization does as well as “the full scope of these national attacks,” and end with a Q&A and call to action.

Madison Partridge, the executive director of Mountain Pride, noted that the event creates a valuable space: one where “community members and allies can come together, have their voices heard and advocate for issues impacting them.”

At the Eagle County event — and the whole tour — the goal is three-fold, Bridges said. This includes connecting with Coloradans on the importance of organizing, hearing from individuals who are experiencing the impacts of the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community (to better understand how the organization can support them), and asking them to get involved in organizing and advocating for pro-equality policy and efforts, she said.

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These goals support the work that the advocacy organization does year-round in “advancing equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) Coloradans and their families,” Bridges said.

“From connecting with and organizing alongside Coloradans to working to support pro-equality policy and leaders, this tour gives us the opportunity to educate, learn, connect and organize together,” she added.

The tour kicked off on Oct. 3 in Colorado Springs and has already had several events, during which the LGBTQ+ community has shown up.

“The LGBTQ+ community is hopeful, and ready to organize to protect the basic rights we have, and need to secure so that every Coloradan can thrive,” Bridges said.

“Coloradans are demonstrating their basic respect for freedom and desire to ensure all Coloradans, including transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive folks can live authentically and freely. Coloradans will not allow a false narrative about the trans community and LGBTQ+ community to be used to spread misinformation and for political gain,” she added.

Partridge also hopes the event will demonstrate the power of the local LGBTQ+ community and their experiences and opinuons.

“Our voices matter, and our presence is essential in shaping a more inclusive Colorado,” Partridge said. “In a time when the LGBTQ+ community faces unprecedented challenges, standing together is more important than ever, so please come and share your voice.”