Offers safety, fun for LGBTQIA+ youth by Kate Braniff Growg up a small town northern Colorado wasn’t always easy for Kimberly Chambers. “I knew I wouldn’t be accepted for who I was, so I uldn’t e out,” she says. “I didn’t have a safe place to drop .” For those who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, tersex, asexual, or other (LGBTQIA+), there are few safe spac where an dividual n be pletely open and hont wh others, explas Alyssa Wright, a licensed clil social worker and owner of Integrated Counselg & Wellns Fort Colls. “When someone n’t feel their most thentic and genue self, they’re at extreme risk of mental health stggl like prsn, anxiety, suicidaly, and substance e.” In fact, LGBTQIA+ youth experience much higher stanc of suici, substance abe, and homelsns than heterosexual youth the Uned Stat. Havg support creas the numbers. “LGBTQIA+ youth supportive fai are 50 percent ls likely to thk about suici than kids unsupportive suatns,” says Wright. As a parent, tor, activist, and queer woman, Chambers unrstands the dangers well. To fill the gap, she created SPLASH (Supportg Pri, Learng, and Social Happengs) Youth of Northern Colorado, a volunteer-n, muny program nnectg young people 5-24 years old and their fai to safe spac, protective programmg, rourc, and referrals to pre-screened specialists. SPLASH offers weekly age-specific and peer-led support groups, activi, and learship opportuni. Organizatns offerg this type of support exist bigger ci, but not always smaller, ral areas. Chambers, who serv as director, scrib SPLASH as siar to a muny-based gay-straight alliance, specifilly for LGBTQIA+ youth Larimer and Weld unti. COVID lockdown Like many nonprof anizatns, mand for SPLASH’s servic skyrocketed when the COVID-19 global crisis h. “When COVID really started affectg our young people late March, our numbers jumped over 500 percent om the year before,” says Chambers. “We saw huge creas need when kids were isolated om their safe social works.” Chambers add multiple onle support groups and social events to keep up wh mand, but she do try to host -person events wh proper COVID-19 safety protols whenever possible. “To a certa gree, onle don’t fill the gap of -person nnectn,”explas Wright. “For this time specifilly, wh everythg beg onle, ’s even more important to have the safe spac.” Empowerg youth Chambers believ that to be relevant wh kids, adults need to meet them where they are, and not the other way around. From social media outreach to planng events and makg cisns, SPLASH youth are enuraged to be volved and take on learship rol. “Call me crazy, and sometim ’s difficult, but I enurage our board to have youth votg, board posns,” says Chambers. “It keeps acuntable, empowers youth, and keeps our goals and strategi relevant.” The SPLASH Ambassador program provis trag suici preventn and other peer terventns, givg youth tools to intify peers who might need help but don’t feel fortable gog directly to an adult. “In my adult life, fay and iends have given me space to disver and be my thentic self,” says Chambers. “I feel ’s worth returng that empowerment, to make sure kids n stay alive.” Onle Communy Groups* Teens ag 12-18 - GAUGE (transgenr, non-bary youth) Teens ag 12-18 - SPLASH (all LGBTQIA+ teens) Young adults ag 16-24 - (all LGBTQIA+ young adults) Parents and regivers of LGBTQIA+ youth - Group led by parents and LGBTQIA+ volunteers Elementary ag 7-11 - Sktl (Kids who are qutng, LGBTQIA+ youth, or the kids of LGBTQIA+ parents or regivers). Pre-registratn required. *Check tim and lotns at Check out upg events on social media at #splashno. Contact: or text 970-444-LGBT for addnal rmatn. If you or someone you know is unr 25, havg a mental health crisis, and LGBTQIA+, ntact The Trevor Project 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386, text START to 678-678, or via chat at Or ll the SummStone Crisis Le at 970-494-4200, ext. 4.
Contents:
- MOVG TO LGBT FORT COLLS, COLORADO? HOW TO FD YOUR PERFECT GAY NEIGHBORHOOD!
- WELE TO GAY IENDLY FORT COLLS/GREELEY AREA
- LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS FORT COLLS, CO
- COLORADO LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
MOVG TO LGBT FORT COLLS, COLORADO? HOW TO FD YOUR PERFECT GAY NEIGHBORHOOD!
Short history of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, & Queer history Fort Colls and related historic s. * fort collins lgbt *
Acrdgly, the first crimal Colorado, which remaed place until the 1920s, tablished that “sodomy” as a same-sexual behavr was illegal, although distct om homosexual inty.
Denver’s first gay bar, The P, opened 1939 on Seventeenth Street. In 1953, Colorado passed a psychopathic offenr law that allowed for fe stutnalizatn of anyone who mted an act fed as a sex crime, which at that time clud homosexual acts. Dpe wispread discrimatn and anti-gay vlence, LGBTQ+ muni grew along wh the populatn of major ci around the unty, cludg Denver, bee they served as regnal refug for queer culture and created a cril mass of dividuals seekg muny wh each other.
WELE TO GAY IENDLY FORT COLLS/GREELEY AREA
All the latt rmatn + rourc you will need when movg to LGBTQ Fort Colls, cludg the bt gay neighborhoods, muny groups, gay realtors, and more. * fort collins lgbt *
The untercultural social movements that flourished the late 1960s clud the Gay Liberatn Movement and Lbian Femism.
LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS FORT COLLS, CO
* fort collins lgbt *
As the grassroots movement began to grow around the state, CSU provid the earlit opportuny for LGBTQ+ people to anize Fort Colls, wh the foundg 1971 of Stunt Organizatn for Gays, Lbians, and Bisexuals (SOGLB).
COLORADO LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
The stunt-n group, one of the first LBGTQ+ stunt anizatns the untry, met a private lotn at first but was regnized as a formal anizatn by the universy 1975 and emerged as the Fort Colls Gay Alliance, wh both stunts and muny members volved and an office the Lory Stunt Center. Frank Kameny of the Mattache Society also vised Fort Colls to give a lecture on gay employment issu the feral ernment. In the late 1970s, the Fort Colls Gay Alliance was offerg ffee ho, advertised the Coloradoan, and annual symposia at the universy.
Advot also tablished anizatns to support LGBTQ+ dividuals cludg the Gay Communy Center, which opened 1977 to help people e out and clud one of the first support groups for transgenr people, and the Genr Inty Center, which rporated 1980. In 1982, the torch relay for the Gay Gam San Francis crossed Colorado and passed through Fort Colls.