Aspen Gay Ski Week | Aspen

Contents:

• ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK
• THE STORY OF ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

Some might say ASGW (Aspen Gay Ski Week) was and is the first form of LGBTQ+ Pri Aspen. Fd out why Condé Naste lls “The alpha and the omega of gay ski weeks. Arguably the biggt party of the wter season, Aspen Gay Ski Week has matured.

THE STORY OF ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

It was the party culture of the ’70s clashg wh old-fashned unacceptance that led to the formatn of a nonprof to n Aspen Gay Ski Week and e as a force for good the muny. Durg the , a group of lol men had started regularly hangg out wh gay visors om ski clubs around the untry.

By 1977, the rnns beme more official, wh each club hostg parti their ndos on different nights for a week January, and the lol ntgent throwg the wele as liberal as Aspen was, beg gay public wasn’t universally accepted (hence the ndo parti)—a realy that spurred Jon Bch, one of Aspen Gay Ski Week’s founrs, to advote for gay rights after gettg trouble for dancg wh another man at a lol bar. In 1979, Bch and other lol supporters had reason to celebrate when Aspen beme the first municipaly Colorado to pass an anti-discrimatn policy for gays and lbians.

Boulr and Denver followed Aspen’s example, but 1992, Colorado voters passed Amendment 2 to the state nstutn, which revoked gay protectns and prohibed any new on om beg enacted at lol and state levels.

Women celebrate Aspen Gay Ski Week at the base of Aspen Mounta 2022. This anti-gay policy triggered a wispread and effective boytt of Colorado tourism, particularly pafully felt Aspen, where Gay Ski Week had bee a major wter event and talyst for gay tourism year-round. A legal challenge ensued, and shortly after the US Supreme Court led that Amendment 2 was unnstutnal 1996, Aspen Gay Ski Week was fold to a new 501c3 nonprof: the Aspen Gay and Lbian Communy Fund (now AspenOUT) olst and largt gay ski event the untry (more than 3, 000 people are expected this year), Aspen Gay Ski Week has evolved far beyond ndo parti.

A wboy dance party at the Belly Up and boy band ver group at the Wheeler are exampl of events put on by other enti wh Gay Ski Week atten md. But as AspenOUT’s ma annual fundraiser, Aspen Gay Ski Week is much more than a good time— mak possible the anizatn’s growg mental health and tn work. Wh funds om Gay Ski Week, for example, AspenOUT provis facilators to Roarg Fork Valley schools’ gay stunt allianc (GSAs) and onle mental health trag for unselors and teachers.

“Aspen Snowmass is very clive and has always been very supportive of Aspen Gay Ski Week, not only bee ’s good for the enomy, but bee ’s good for the muny, ” says McManamon. A group of skiers and hikers celebrate Aspen Gay Ski Week atop Highland Peak. Aspen Snowmass is one of many proud sponsors of Aspen Gay Ski Week, but the pany’s support of the LGBTQ+ muny don’t stop there.