Tamara Bartlett

Tamara Bartlett was the founder of Abaton Books, a bookstore located in Old Colorado City that was primarily tailored to a lesbian and gay audience.

Tamara was one of the leaders of the first gay pride parade in Colorado Springs, preceding the formal Pikes Peak Pridefest. According to her oral history interview, she and her friends got together and decided they would walk from Colorado College down Tejon to Acacia Park. There were around 30 people. The next year, they decided to have vendors at the event. The permit for the march was framed for a while in the bookstore, and was donated to the Pikes Peak Gay Community Center when the bookstore closed. The remaining books were sold to Poor Richards.^[1]

Following graduation, Tamara became a part of the team that published New Phazes, a monthly newsletter which had a subscriber base of around 300 people. The publication started to run out of Abaton Books. ^[1:1]

Questions

• When was the first parade? See if its in the transcript.
• Ask Tamara about saved New Phases issues
  • Found in PPLD Special Collections! Regina Dipadova might have more.

References