Tired of corporate sponsorships, Denver organizers celebrate the ‘People’s Pride’

Saturday’s events continued as temperatures reached triple digits, Denver’s hottest day of the year. A 17-year-old girl fainted at the protest outside the Capitol. Emergency medical technicians took her to the hospital.

Vane said one her biggest concerns with Denver PrideFest is that the festival does not have enough free water for attendees. The event provides water, but lines to access the areas are usually long, and water bottles can cost around $10 when purchased from food vendors. Reusable water bottles are only permitted in the event if they're empty at entry.

“Denver Pride has continually put our community in danger by not offering enough free water,” Vane added.

Kim Salvaggio, Center on Colfax CEO, said she understands corporate sponsorships are “a complex and nuanced conversation,” but said Denver PrideFest, which brought in more than half a million people last year, is one the few Pride celebrations of its size that remains entirely free. This wouldn’t be possible without sponsorships, Salvaggio added. (Disclosure: Prior to joining the Center as its CEO, Kim Salvaggio was the chief community, equity and access officer at Rocky Mountain Public Media, the parent organization of Rocky Mountain PBS.)

“We’re intentional about partnering with companies that are investing in meaningful, long-term support for the LGBTQ+ community, not just one-time branding opportunities. And we welcome feedback from our community about how we can continue to grow with integrity,” Salvaggio wrote in a statement to Rocky Mountain PBS.

Salvaggio added that Pride is the Center’s largest fundraiser, and 83% of funds raised go to its community programs. 

“It’s not as simple as cutting sponsorships without consequences and the consequence cannot be less service to our community, especially now as we are living through harmful legislation limiting the amount of states our community can live and thrive in,” Salvaggio said.

Pride celebrations began around the United States in the 1970s after the Stonewall Riots in 1969, in which a group of LGBTQ+ New Yorkers fought against police harassment at The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Wright said the People’s Pride and previous years’ protests have attempted to steer Denver’s Pride celebrations back to its roots of standing up to power, rather than what she sees as capitulating to it.

“Over the last couple of decades, Pride has gotten really overtaken by corporations and non-revolutionary sentiments,” Wright said. “It’s important for us to focus on the message of queer liberation.”

The Denver DSA and other activist groups have protested Denver PrideFest for the last several years. The group has protested the Denver Police Department’s presence at Pride, claiming police at the event is antithetical to Pride’s roots and makes LGBTQ+ people less safe. Last year, protesters opposed the Center decision to allow Lockheed Martin, the largest arms manufacturer in the world with a sizable workforce in Colorado, to sponsor Pride events.

 

DSA members also asked The Center to remove Starbucks from the 2025 parade lineup. Starbucks came under fire last summer for suing Starbucks Workers United after the union expressed support for Palestinians.

“We want to celebrate being queer without having to be associated with some of those bad actors,” Vane said of corporate sponsors.

Vane said she does not have plans to protest at this year’s PrideFest, and the People’s Pride was DSA’s preferred form of activism this year.

Emily Stout, a parent of transgender children who helped plan the protest at the Capitol, said mobilizing people in support of transgender youth is easier when LGBTQ+ celebrations are occurring. 

“The decision sends a terrifying message to trans youth everywhere that their bodies are political battlegrounds, their futures are uncertain and in the hands of the state,” Stout said. “And we’re here to just shower them with love.”

Stout said protests and grassroots events are a reminder that communities can protect and support each other without the government or large corporations on their side.

“The government is not protecting basic rights for our queer and trans youth,” Stout said. “So we are doing what we can to step in.”