People
A Note About Dates
This list is sorted by 'active-date', which is based on when the subject is first mentioned within archival materials, or when they themselves report first getting involved in the community.
Description: Katharine Lee Bates wrote "America the Beautiful" during her summer position, teaching English at CC in 1893. It is assumed that Bates was a lesbian, based on her letters and the fact that she shared a home with her companion Katharine Coman.
Description: Helen Thompson was arrested in 1899 for dressing in male attire while packing a gun.
Description: Barbara Grier was a landmark lesbian writer, publisher, and activist. She was the editor of the San Francisco lesbian magazine, *The Ladder*, and the co-founder of Naiad Press, one of the first ever lesbian publishing companies.
Description: Chicano writer and activist who participated in the founding of the Gay Liberation Front and Lambda Services Bureau.
Description: Donaciano Martinez is a Chicano activist who grew up in the Conejos neighborhood of Colorado Springs. He is the co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs, co-founder of the Lambda Services Bureau, Co-founder of the Colorado Springs Free Clinic, and founder of La Gente Unida
Description: Co-founder of the Lambda Services Bureau, which opened in March, 1975.
Description: One of the founders of the Colorado Springs Gay Liberation Front.
Description: A trans woman active in the Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs in the 1970s.
Description: A Sergeant stationed at Fort Carson that made the army discharge him by going into the Ft. Carson Mess Hall in full drag in 1978.
Description: Also known as Johnny Bates. Lois Lane was Princess Royal of the 5th reign of the Imperial Court of Southern Colorado. She passed away from HIV and is memorialized in The AIDS Quilt.
Description: Lesbian feminist involved in the Gay Sisters Alliance of Colorado Springs and co-founder of a women's health clinic.
Description: Reverend at PPMCC starting in 1983, and
Description: UCPPE monarch and drag queen
Description: Emporer XIV of the united court of the rising sun empire, VP of Pikes Peak Gay Community Center, editor of GAYSPEAK in 1990.
Description: A US Army colonel who was charged with nine counts of conduct unbecoming an officer for engaging in homosexual acts, and two counts of indecent exposure for performing in drag.
Description: Jocelyn Sandberg was a Lesbian Avenger and KRCC radio host. She was murdered in 2002, and her case has not been solved.
Description: Former executive director of the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Center
Description: A lesbian writer for the Colorado Springs Gazette, and later, New Phazes.
Description: Leader of Ground Zero, which combatted Amendment 2.
Description: A prolific leader in the local LGBTQ+ community in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Founder of the Hide and Seek, The Annex, Lambda House, and the Colorado Grill. President of the Pikes Peak Gay Community Center.
Description: Mackenzie Beninati is a performance poet who was active in Colorado Springs from 2011
Description: Sorkin is an extremely accomplished queer-identifying rock climber who attended Colorado College
Description: Poet and activist. Co-founder of the Colorado Springs Gay Liberation Front and Lambda Services Bureau.
Description: The first president of the Pikes Peak Gay Community Center and Colorado College alum.
Description: David McCord and David Zamora were the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in Colorado on March 26, 1975.
Description: Program Director of Sweetgrass Advocacy in Colorado Springs
Description: An article by CC student Beau Toepfer about Queer Outdoor Recreationalists in Colorado Springs.
Description: Renee Nicole Good was a beloved wife, mother, and poet from Colorado Springs who passed away on January 7, 2026 when ICE agent Jonathan Ross killed her.
Description: Rod Rhodes was an art history professor at Colorado College and multimedia artist. His work, Stations of the Cross, was posthumously displayed at Coburn Gallery at Colorado College.
