{"id":134332,"date":"2026-06-23T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southwest-colorados-lgbtq-and-two-spirit-community-resilient-during-pride-month\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T22:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T04:46:09","slug":"southwest-colorados-lgbtq-and-two-spirit-community-resilient-during-pride-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southwest-colorados-lgbtq-and-two-spirit-community-resilient-during-pride-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Colorado\u2019s LGBTQ and two-spirit community resilient during Pride Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Facing
Facing the challenges of being more spread out, more targeted and less visible, LGBTQ and two-spirit advocates are open about their identities in the hopes future generations can feel safe, accepted and celebrated in their rural communities. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

On June 6, at the ZU Gallery, under the flash of multicolored lights and casual conversation, owner Jodi Jahrling hosted a Pride Month dance party, inviting both members of the LGBTQ community and allies to celebrate beside intimate portraits of gay cowboy couples painted by New Mexico artist Anthony Hurd.<\/p>\n

People scrawled supportive messages dedicated to the queer community on rainbow hearts, later plastered on the windows, and danced. She said the turnout of a few dozen patrons was more than previous years, adding that the community has become more visible in her decade living here.<\/p>\n

\"At
At the ZU Gallery Pride Dance Party, attendees wrote supportive messages to the LGBTQ community on paper hearts displayed in the bar\u2019s windows. \u201cYou are perfect as you are,\u201d \u201cLP loves you\u201d and \u201cNormal is a cycle on a washing machine! Be you!\u201d read some of the letters. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"New
New Mexico painter Anthony Hurd\u2019s portraits of cowboys in same-sex relationships or experimenting with gender presentation hung on the walls of the ZU Gallery for Pride Month. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI feel like that\u2019s been everybody\u2019s responsibility to make sure that people understood that they didn\u2019t have to hide, that there are accepting people in the community,\u201d Jahrling said.<\/p>\n

During this year\u2019s Pride Month, LGBTQ and two-spirit advocates say Montezuma County\u2019s queer community has grown stronger but still faces challenges in the rural region.<\/p>\n

Promoting visibility<\/div>\n

The queer community can seem more disconnected across the vast high desert of Southwest Colorado. LGBTQ-focused events are concentrated in Durango. In areas like Cortez, Mancos and Dolores, turnout can sometimes be low.<\/p>\n

LP McKay, who DJ\u2019d for the ZU\u2019s pride gathering, moved from Austin, Texas, where they recalled partaking in various group activities dedicated to the LGBTQ community. When they arrived here, they tried to strike up similar events, with varying degrees of success.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re never going to have a million people show up. Sometimes it\u2019s one person, and you\u2019re like, \u2018OK, it\u2019s just us. We\u2019re going on a gay hike,\u2019\u201d McKay said, adding with a laugh, \u201cWhatever that means.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DJ
DJ and radio show host LP McKay spun disco and dance tracks to costumed attendees, donning rainbow feathered wings and other colorful garb. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

McKay is open about their identity as a nonbinary gay person, to show others in the community that it\u2019s OK to exist outside straight and cisgender norms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t really hide who I am very well, and I try to be as visible as possible because I know there\u2019s not a lot of that,\u201d McKay said. \u201cYou can come here to Cortez, and I think it gets, sometimes, a bad rap.\u201d<\/p>\n

As such, several prominent queer performers and community members feel responsible to set the stage for others to feel comfortable coming out and finding spaces for connection.<\/p>\n

Aria PettyOne, a drag queen based in Durango who asked to be identified by her stage name to speak in a professional capacity, travels to small towns throughout Colorado to perform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my bread and butter: the places that don\u2019t get a lot of drag or a lot of opportunities,\u201d PettyOne said. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten about 20 or 30 performers in the area now that I try to cycle through each month and give at least some sort of booking or opportunity to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

She performed for the first time in 2019 after moving to Durango from Baltimore and has won numerous Drag, Initiatives and Variety Awards for her work. Her passion for small-town gigs hinges on her insistence that queer people should feel both acknowledged and accepted in their own communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you should have to go to a big city to live authentically or to be who you are,\u201d PettyOne said. \u201cAnd I think if you\u2019ve grown up in a place, or if you found a place that you love this much, you should be able to call it home and home should feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her mission can sometimes be an uphill battle, facing online and in-person harassment and threats. She\u2019s been called slurs on social media and in public for performing drag.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce this article comes out, look at the comments. That will tell you everything that you need to see and hear,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are really bold with the keyboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite all the internet noise, PettyOne\u2019s past three shows at the Sunflower Theatre in downtown Cortez sold out.<\/p>\n

\"Aria
Aria PettyOne and fellow Southwest Colorado drag performers descend annually on Sunflower Theatre for a Spring Fling Drag Show, which attracts a packed house. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\u201cI\u2019m
\u201cI\u2019m just a dude in a wig talking crap on a microphone,\u201d Southwest drag performer Aria PettyOne joked. \u201cBut, to some people, that's what they need.\u201d She performs in small communities, having been the first drag queen to ever perform in Leadville. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cSelling out multiple years in a row in a town like Cortez tells me everything I need to know, tells me I\u2019m doing something right, at least,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can tell people are just thankful that we\u2019re there, that they need us. They want us to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recognizing the two-spirit community<\/div>\n

PettyOne is not alone in her mission to promote LGBTQ visibility in Southwest Colorado. Local Indigenous advocates say there is less acknowledgment of individuals facing additional layers of marginalization.<\/p>\n

Zorion Wilbanks, a two-spirit advocate and drag performer of both Oneida and Ho-Chunk ancestry, said their identity harks to both their Indigenous heritage and their queerness, placing them in a lesser-known category than others under the LGBTQ umbrella.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a minority of a minority of a minority,\u201d Wilbanks said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it stands, I don\u2019t feel like two-spirit people are visible enough within the overall 2SLGBTQ+ community,\u201d they said, using the LGBTQ acronym that places two-spirit at the front to promote awareness of the ethnic and spiritual identity.<\/p>\n

They explained that \u201ctwo-spirit\u201d emerged from native cultures that historically honored more than two genders. Being two-spirit means balancing the masculine and feminine roles of one\u2019s tribe, Wilbanks said.<\/p>\n

Birdie Lopez, a two-spirit member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, didn\u2019t come out until after college but said they always knew the two-spirit identity aligned with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was younger, I had to be under the radar,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n

Lopez, who works with youth support programs in Cortez and on the reservation, is often the first openly two-spirit individual the children encounter. By being candid about their identity, they hope to change that reality for the next generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them, \u2018I am Birdie. I\u2019m a two-spirited person. I go by them, and I am a tribal member.\u2019 And they\u2019re like, \u2018Where have you been?\u2019\u2029I was like, \u2018I\u2019ve been here this whole time,\u2019\u201d they said, recalling their experience as a supervisor for the bushwhacking summer program on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation.<\/p>\n

For Lopez, the story of Fred Martinez, a two-spirit youth murdered in Cortez 25 years ago, surfaces for them when they think about their role in making the two-spirit community known and accepted in Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to be a positive beacon for the youth as well as the adult community, especially those who are still struggling to come out,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Problems within Cortez City Council<\/div>\n

While it is often individuals and grassroots movements that shed light on the struggles of the LGBTQ community, it\u2019s also an issue Cortez City Council has taken head-on.<\/p>\n

As City Council proclaimed June Pride Month for the sixth year in a row \u2013 with Mayor Dennis Spruell and Councilor April Randle opposed \u2013 memories of previous harassment and threats directed toward LGBTQ members remained.<\/p>\n

Some current and former city officials say identifying within the LGBTQ community places targets on them or their queer colleagues\u2019 backs.<\/p>\n

One previous council member resigned because of what colleagues said were threats and extensive harassment for their sexuality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to talk about the safety issue because it impacts this council right here,\u201d Councilor Bill Lewis said during a debate about the proclamation May 26. \u201cWe had a City Council member that had to resign because she was getting threatened, and she felt that the threats were becoming larger, and she was worried about her family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another former city council member, who identifies as gay and asked not to be named to protect the safety of their family, said they often felt targeted by community members for their sexuality while on council.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like people really called me out more than the other people on council,\u201d they said, adding that social media posts from the city picturing them would receive negative and homophobic comments.<\/p>\n

Support from fellow council members often came in private settings, they said, and was not vocalized to the public.<\/p>\n

The proclamation, the council member said, is important to the LGBTQ community in Cortez, which is marginalized and still faces harassment openly. However, the former council member believes Cortez can still offer a refuge for members of the LGBTQ community through events like the Pride Dance Party hosted by the ZU Gallery.<\/p>\n

A changed county<\/div>\n

Michael Kaltenberger, who reveled in the casual joy of the ZU Gallery partygoers from the sidelines, lived in Cortez 10 years ago and returned within the past few months to find a changed city.<\/p>\n

\"Michael
Michael Kaltenberger, who attended the Pride Dance Party at the ZU Gallery, said he moved from Northern Colorado back to Cortez for a slower pace of life and found a more accepting, peaceful community awaiting him than he recalled form his earlier years. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI didn\u2019t really connect with this community the first time I lived here,\u201d Kaltenberger said. \u201cI just don\u2019t remember there being these kinds of events 10 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his first evening out after moving back, he was shocked at the peaceful coexistence he witnessed between different groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked around the room, and I saw these people dancing together. There\u2019s the cowboys, there\u2019s the hippies, there\u2019s the gay people and everybody was in union or peace,\u201d he said. \u201cAll these issues that we see on social media, I didn\u2019t see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbie Herring, who says she moved to Montezuma County as a \u201cvery visibly queer person\u201d four years ago, grew up in the Southern Baptist Church, experiencing homophobia from her own family. But Southwest Colorado provided some solace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would go play at open mics just over in Mancos and I\u2019d do queer songs. Like, \u2018Vibe check, how are you guys reacting about me singing about kissing girls?\u2019\u201d Herring said.<\/p>\n

To her surprise, some of the elderly in the crowd would approach her to complement her songs. The music community, she said, helped bridge the gap between isolated rural living and the need for camaraderie, creating a community Herring believes is better than can be found in a city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always liked small towns because you can connect better and there\u2019s a lot more intentional community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Despite the threats and negativity directed toward the LGBTQ community residing in Southwest Colorado, advocates chose to focus mainly on the positive, seeing Pride Month as a celebration rather than a lament of all the progress yet to be made.<\/p>\n

At the ZU Gallery, people laughed, danced and waved hello to each other, kissed their partners openly and casually, held hands and swayed to the music, and basked in the freedom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to take every opportunity we can to express joy,\u201d McKay said.<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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