For 40 years Aspen Gay Ski Week has been a pillar of inclusion, equality, and let's be honest, an all out winter extravaganza!
Aspen Gay Ski Week kicked off on Sunday, and word has it it’s bigger and better than ever! For 40 years Gay Ski Week has been a fun and inclusive event for the LGBT community on the slopes! Just last year the week partnered with the LGBT network Logo. The partnership has allowed for more coverage, more notoriety and duh, more FUN! I’d be especially excited for a chance to mingle with Rupaul's Drag Race contestants, who will be littered around giving winter fashion tips and slipping and sliding around in the snow. Check out all the fun for yourself: https://youtu.be/y_UpkLjiMcA?list=PLEGesqg0t1NVo6wF5AOmhavzHW-ZPGhSh The week is filled with fun events for everyone to enjoy. Comedy nights, dance parties, performances, snowman dressing contests, celebs, talent shows… the list goes on. If you’re a GSW virgin, don’t worry! The week’s website has everything you need to know laid out for you… or just go in knowing nothing! Either way, Gay Ski Week will have plenty to do for everyone involved!. Aspen Ski Week hasn’t always been the big ol gay bash that it’s turned into today. Taking words from the Gay Ski Week Site:“Forty years ago what became Aspen Gay Ski Week, began in a bar over an argument about dancing and liberal politics in Aspen.”In the late 70’s, local GSW pioneer Jon Busch found himself in hot water for dancing with another man. Although Aspen was notoriously liberal, there were still limits, and that included openly dancing with another man. In 1979, Busch and other local men pushed for secured gay rights protections in Aspen (the first in the state), with Boulder and Denver quick to follow. What happened on the dance floor quickly turned into a historic civil rights case, one that would eventually blossom into Gay Ski Week. Though legislation attempted to take down the gay community in 1992, the community organized, planned and never gave up their goal to be equal and just have some damn fun!
It started with a group of four men, along with many other groups of gay tourists from various ski clubs, who decided to meet consistently every January. Every year each ski club volunteered to host parties on different nights and of course, everyone was invited. These bashes blossomed over the years. Soon the ski club’s yearly gatherings turned into the world’s first, and for many years the only, gay ski week.
Their one party became several, hot tub gatherings turned into the Saturday Night Pool Party. Spur of the moment drag shows transformed into the downhill costume contest.
But overall, it’s not just some big ol’ gay fest leaving a trail of glitter and rainbows in its path. The root of Aspen Gay Ski Week is about politics and civil rights. The Gay Ski Week, especially after the Logo partnership, allows the ski town to boom an entire week for the best reason: inclusion.
