Queer City of the Plains Gives us Denver’s LGBTQ History by Arianna Balderrama
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he LGBTQ movement is filled with important figures and events that left marks cemented into crusade. Looking into the history of the LGBTQ community, many know the general story of our journey: The Stonewall Riots, cake denial, and the legalization of same-gender marriage in 2015. However, looking within Denver, can you pinpoint stories and people within the queer movement that happened beneath your feet? Perhaps your surroundings on the way to work have a place within history that lead you to live freely today (well … almost). Queer City of Plains is an art exhibit currently being held at the McNichols building in the Civic Center Building. The purpose of the exhibition is to look into the history of the LGBTQ movement in Denver and highlight stories that might have been buried in the chaos. The art exhibit includes the work of various, contemporary artists and historians assisting in the pieces reflecting the history of the queer movement with accuracy. Each artist was given a certain time period to look at and interpret in order to craft their new works of art.
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Brenden Picker is the curator of Queer City of Plains. He works for Denver Arts and Venues as a public art program administrator, and OUT FRONT was able to chat with him about this insightful exhibit.
history into four, distinct elements starting up when the city incorporated as a city into the present day. I located artists whom I thought would be interested in working with the project to basically respond to each of the four narratives through art.
How would you describe Queer City of the Plains?
We have a section about the history of the rainbow flag written by Genevieve Waller, who is another historian. I had Steven Frost respond to the history of the rainbow flag. Jonathan Saiz responded to the first historical narrative, which was 1859 to 1939.
I work in the McNichols building; that's where the cultural affairs team works. My colleague, Shana Shelby, manages the exhibitions that happen. Over a year ago, she asked if I would help curate a show for summer 2020 that would coincide with gay pride and the Civic Center and would have kind of an LGBTQ team for the show. So, I was thrilled at the opportunity. And, right off the bat, I wanted to illuminate Denver’s queer history. It wasn't just about the art, but it was something a little more educational. I found David Duffield, who is a historian, and he works part-time at the The Center on Colfax, and has done a lot of work with queer history in Denver and Colorado. I partnered with him, and we basically decided to divide Denver's
Adir Norris is a really amazing artist as well, and she responded to the narrative from 1940 to 1969. The Secret Love Collective, which is a queer arts collective, did 1969 to 1996. Brian Corrigan responded to 1996 through 2020. Steven Frost, who is an amazing textile artist, did a reinterpretation of the rainbow flag and did a queer flag for the City of Denver. We also have Yvie Oddly who won Season 11 of Rupaul’s Drag Race, one of her signature looks on the show, and she also wore it when she came to Civic Center last year for gay pride. Jared Polis, who is the first openly gay U.S. governer, his
