September 5, 2018 :: Drugs by OUT FRONT Magazine

CO LO R A D O'S LG B TQ M AGA ZINE | F R E E

CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018 VOL42 NO10

AN UNUSUAL APPROACH TO FIGHTING THE DRUG WAR: HELP ADDICTS GET HIGH 14 HIGH HEALING: HOW DRUGS CAN HELP WITH LOVE AND TRAUMA 19 THE LEGAL DILEMMA: CANNABIS INEQUALITY AND PEOPLE OF COLOR 22 TRANSPHOBIA AT THE PHARMACY: HOW STIGMA HURTS GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE 24 MOON MAGNET: KEEPING DENVER TRIPPY 28 WHEN PREP MEANT A DISCO NAP 32

NOT ALL IN GOOD FUN: THE ‘PARTY AND PLAY’ EPIDEMIC RAVAGES DENVER 36

AQUARIA: THE BITCH FROM NEW YORK CITY HITS THE MILE HIGH CITY

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SERVING THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS SINCE 1976 PHONE 303-477-4000 FAX 303-325-2642 WEB OutFrontMagazine.com FACEBOOK /OutFrontColorado TWITTER @OutFrontCO INSTAGRAM /OutFrontColorado FOUNDER PHIL PRICE 1954-1993 ADMINISTRATION info@outfrontmagazine.com JERRY CUNNINGHAM Publisher J.C. MCDONALD Vice President MAGGIE PHILLIPS Operations Manager JEFF JACKSON SWAIM Chief Strategist EDITORIAL editorial@outfrontmagazine.com RYAN HOWE Editor ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER Associate Editor KEEGAN WILLIAMS Copy Editor BRENT HEINZE Senior Columnist INTERNS: Arianna Balderamma, Veronica Holyfield WRITERS: Yvonne Wright, Caitlin Galiz-Rowe, Rick Kitzman, Exra Kronfeld, Alysha Prieto, Denny Patterson ART art@outfrontmagazine.com DESIGN2PRO Graphic Designer CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Charles Broshous MARKETING + SALES marketing@outfrontmagazine.com BENJAMIN YOUNG Director of Sales & Marketing BRENNAN GALLAGHER Marketing Executive QUINCEY ROISUM Marketing Executive National Advertising Rivendell Media 212-242-6863 | sales@rivendellmedia.com

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WHAT WE FEEL, FOR YOU TO READ

FROM THE EDITOR

WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT DRUGS? QUEER PEOPLE AND THE USE OF SUBSTANCES HAVE A LONG, TANGLED HISTORY THAT RANGES FROM RECREATION TO ADDICTION TO HEALTH. TO IGNORE THIS ISSUE WOULD BE A DISSERVICE TO OUR READERS. SO, THE EDITORIAL STAFF OVER HERE AT OUT FRONT DECIDED TO FOCUS ON DRUGS AND HOW LGBTQ PEOPLE USE THEM.

In these pages, you’ll see a slew of diﬀerent stories. We looked at a controversial way Colorado’s politicians are trying to ﬁght the war on drugs and minimize overdoses within Denver. It’s a battle that meets a strong resistance from Republicans.

We were hesitant at ﬁrst, not knowing what would come of such an issue. What we found out was, LGBTQ people rely on both recreational and prescribed drugs to navigate life. We also looked at how our community abuses some of these drugs and is likely to live with addiction.

We’ve looked at how queer people are using drugs to heal themselves. No, we are not talking about your typical prescriptions, but alternative ways to work through trauma, sexual and otherwise.

The most recent data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse found members of the queer community were more than twice as likely to use illegal drugs. That was in 2015. In 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau broke it down even further. One analysis showed LGB teens were 90 percent more likely to use drugs than heterosexual adolescents. Those numbers may be even higher today.

We chatted with some of Denver’s trippiest artists about music, local support, and being straight-up weird.

We looked at hormone replacement therapies, drugs in the 90s, 'party and play' culture, and the inequality that still lingers in the cannabis industry for people of color. We hope you ﬂip through these pages and walk away with a few new perspectives on drug use within the our community. At the very least, we hope you get inspired to try some cannabis-infused lube. Trust me, that sh*t is good!

Ryan Howe

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An Unusual Approach to Fighting

the the Drug Drug War: War: Help Addicts Get High By Yvonne Wright

“W

e know that dead drug users do not have the opportunity for recovery.”

Consumption Site. We’re taking injecting out of the public sphere and putting it into a controlled environment,” she said.

Lisa Raville is trying to make sure every drug user stays alive long enough to get that opportunity.

The measure may sound unusual— creating a place for people to inject controlled substances in order to fight the epidemic. It is extreme. It is out-ofthe-box. But, supporters argue extreme measures are necessary to combat an extreme problem.

As the executive director of Denver’s Harm Reduction Action Center, she works hand-in-hand with one of the most vulnerable groups in our community— drug users and people living with addiction. Right now she’s joining forces with lawmakers to provide drug users with a safe place to inject drugs. “We’re 8 \\ S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 8

calling

Supervised

Preliminary figures released last month show more than 72,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2017. That’s the most drug deaths in history—about 200 every, single day. In Colorado, the National Vital

Statistics show 1,052 people died from drugs last year. That’s an increase of nearly 8 percent over 2016.

Donald Trump removed the LGBTQ community from the nation’s record keeping systems.

The most recent data out of the National Institute on Drug Abuse found members of the LGBTQ community were more than twice as likely to use illegal drugs. That was in 2015. Figures from the 2013 U.S. Census broke it down even further, and the numbers are staggering.

These statistics are concerning, and politicians are taking note. Colorado State Representative Jonathan Singer, who worked as a social worker before being elected to office, is concerned about what is currently being done.

One analysis showed LGB teens were 90 percent more likely to use drugs than heterosexual adolescents. Those numbers may be even higher today, but we won’t know because President

“I’ve read the autopsy reports for children whose parents were too high to care for them, and I even had to try and explain to one child why their parent wasn’t coming home after a drug-related binge,” he said. OUTFRONTMAGAZINE.COM

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Singer plans to introduce a bill in the next legislative session to try and get drug addicts off the streets and into a safe place. He sponsored what he called an Overdose Prevention Site measure earlier this year that would have created a pilot program in Denver. That bill failed, but he said he plans to move forward even more aggressively. “I’d like to see a more robust version of the bill in 2019 that would allow for several pilot sites across the state to see how effective it is in different geographic areas,” he said. Here’s how the program would work. Designated sites would provide clean and sterile cubicles for drug users to inject. Trained professionals would be on hand, in case of an overdose. Clean needles and supplies would be provided, but addicts would need to bring their own drugs. It would not be paid for with taxpayer money and could only happen with the approval of local city councils. “We’re trying to do something different. We went a long time without doing anything and the rates skyrocketed and we lost too many people,” said Raville. “If stigma, shame, and incarceration worked with drug use, we’d have wrapped this up years ago. All that does is drive use underground.” Raville said the average heroin user injects three to five times a day. Cocaine addicts inject up to 15 times a day. And those who abuse methamphetamines inject about once or twice a day. Raville said she believes community support is strong because people want to get drug addicts out of parks, alleys, churches, and private business bathrooms where they currently use. “Not only are people overdosing in public spaces, the larger community is coming up and finding them,” she said. Not everyone is on board, like Tom Gorman. Gorman is the director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and the co-chair of The Heroin Response Work Group, and he coordinates local, state, and federal drug agencies to try and stop this epidemic. 1 0 \\ S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 8

“As a cop, we’re against it because it’s against the law,” he said. Gorman points to three reasons why he said Supervised Consumption Sites are not a good idea. First of all, he believes it is against state and federal law. Second, he feels it will normalize drug use and make it more acceptable. Finally, he argues it’s not a good idea to create a place for drug addicts to all gather in one place. “When you bring [drug users] together, you’re creating an environment that drug dealers know where to go,” he said. Raville acknowledged drug use is against the law, but feels that we can't afford to wait. “I don’t think we can wait for the feds to be able to push forward when we are in the midst of an overdose epidemic,” she said. As for the other arguments, she said her agency sees up to 150 drug addicts every, single day. They’ve participated in their needle exchange program right across the street from Colorado’s State Capital for several years. And, she said, they do not see drug dealers coming around or an increase in crime. “People go out of their way to be loving, kind, and generous to each other, because there’s no other place like this they can talk realistically about their drug use,” Raville said. Both Raville and Singer point to the more than 100 injection sites around the world as proof they save lives. Currently, there are sites in at least 66 cities within nine countries. “In over 30 years, no one’s ever died of an overdose there because there’s been a trained professional there to recognize and respond,” said Raville. In the United States, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Philadelphia have all announced plans to open safe injection clinics as well. “The research across 66 cities worldwide paints a very different picture where people’s lives are being saved, and needles are no longer littering parks,

sidewalks, and alleys,” said Rep. Singer. Vancouver is the first North American city to have injection sites. And while most of the studies are positive, Gorman said the figures may not be accurate, and it’s important to dig deeper. “When looking at Vancouver, talk to law enforcement; they will tell you it’s terrible. The cops who can talk, that is,” Gorman said. “Be skeptical. Just don’t buy it because you hear it.” In Colorado, the measure has the support of many people within the health community. More than 40 doctors, addiction professionals, people in recovery, and local government officials testified in favor of the measure that failed in February. “Supervised Use is not about condoning drug use,” Singer said. “It’s about telling our struggling neighbors and friends that we want them to stay alive long enough to get help. We wouldn’t withhold insulin from a diabetic after they drank too much Mountain Dew to teach them a lesson.” Singer plans to get to work after the midterm elections to ensure his newly elected colleagues understand an Overdose Prevention Site will save lives without increasing crime. For his part, Gorman will continue fighting the drug war in Colorado, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming. With more than 50 years of law enforcement experience, he recognizes not everyone takes the same path, but they are all working toward the same destination—to put a dent in this drug epidemic. Raville said she is just being practical. Drug treatment is difficult to get into, and even when you do, it usually takes time. In the meantime, she wants drug users to have a safe space that gets them out of the streets and into an arena where they can get help if they want it. “As a service provider in your community, I’m telling you this is what we need. They know the world wants them abstinent, and for one reason or another, it’s not gonna happen today.”

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fter experiencing rape and getting out of a physically, emotionally, and sexually abusive relationship, Kim Koehler feared she would never enjoy sex again.

she isn’t a smoker. But as she started to experiment a little with CBD, a nonpsychoactive element in cannabis, she realized it could be the answer to healing her trauma and pain.

In her mind, sex was equated with anxiety—both the fear of being emotionally hurt and the fear of letting someone down if she wasn’t able to climax fast enough. There was also physical pain.

“The first time I tried a very high-CBD, low-THC tincture, I tried it before sex, and it was the first time I was able to start having orgasms again,” she explained. “That was so incredible to me; I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome it was to finally be able to experience that again, because I basically thought I was broken. I didn’t think I would orgasm again.”

But rather than renounce sex or let her abuser win, Koehler decided to take action—and help a lot of other people along the way. Koehler was first offered physical therapy to deal with her trauma, an experience she recounts as “awkward as hell,” and certainly not the right thing to help her regain sexual confidence. As she suffered in silence, she realized that sexual trauma is one of the least-talkedabout ailments out there. While she was dealing with this trauma, she was also working in the cannabis industry, a realm she had largely left unexplored before the green boom, since

After realizing what she had stumbled onto, Koehler tried numerous combinations of CBD and other ingredients for her homemade salves and lubes. Eventually, she stumbled upon the right blend, and decided to create her own product that could potentially help others with trauma. She started her company, called Privy Peach, in the hopes that, although her lubes and other products are fun behind closed doors and smell and taste great, they could first and foremost help to heal.

HoW drUgs can Help With loVe And trAuMa By Addison Herron-Wheeler

OUTFRONTMAGAZINE.COM

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“A lot of people just don’t talk about this,” Koehler said. “First of all, they don’t talk about cannabis or sex, let alone combining cannabis and sex. I feel like so many people just accept that this is their fate; they are always going to deal with pain; they aren’t going to be able to have orgasms. There are people who fake it their entire lives, so I’m trying to take that stigma away.”

of strategic communication for MAPS. “We’ve also done a lot of other research, and we want to do a lot more. We’ve done cannabis, and we want to do LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca, ibogaine. We want to look at this for mental health, but we aren’t just taking these people and giving them drugs and hoping they get better. It’s always using the drug in combination with psychotherapy.”

Koehler’s lubes have several different purposes.

Patients who want to participate in the study come to MAPS because they have tried multiple methods to work through their trauma and still need more help. They start by seeing a psychotherapist while sober and once they build up a good relationship, they are dosed with MDMA and spend the day receiving therapy in a safe and clinical setting. They are either kept overnight at the hospital for observation or released late in the evening if they feel ready to go home.

As the name suggests, they provide lubrication to make sex more pleasurable. But, the CBD and other active ingredients also help to both soothe any pain or inflammation, while also increasing blood flow to the genitals. So, while the CBD does help with dulling pain, it certainly doesn’t dull or numb positive sensations. Instead, those are increased. Privy Peach’s CBD-infused Intimate Oil is the first product Koehler focused on, and initially the lube she developed to help with her own sexual pain. Even though it afforded a lot of people relief and got rave reviews from those who tried it out in the bedroom, she realized not everyone is having vaginal sex. Anal lube was a huge, unexplored market, and Koehler wanted to reach the queer community and anyone who likes anal sex. She also realized that it could be helpful for victims of trauma or those who experience more pain than usual during anal intercourse. “The product is still all-natural, and I haven’t seen any other cannabis-infused lubes that are specifically formulated for anal,” she explained. “And a lot of anal lubes out there have a lot of artificial ingredients in them.”

The Love Drug Beyond the Club Some trauma is so deep it can’t be healed by a positive sexual experience. In fact, it may be so ingrained that not even love, therapy, medication, or support can completely heal old wounds. When that is the case, many times people try and cope by using drugs, which usually turns into addiction and unhealthy habits. But, when used in a controlled environment and under the correct circumstances, some psychoactive substances can actually provide relief.

So far, the studies have seen really positive results. Sixty percent of people who receive treatment report that they no longer have PTSD two weeks after the study, and that number jumps up to 63 percent a year later. The study also found that those with trauma related to serving in the armed forces or fire and police departments isn’t any different to treat than trauma from rape or emotional violence. In other words, all cases of PTSD, and trauma triggers, are equally valid. So, how does this impact the LGBTQ communtity? Queer people are likely to have PTSD or have experienced trauma, often due to discrimination or from intimate partner violence. Harvard reports that queer youth are more likely to suffer from PTSD because of trauma during youth or formative teenage years. MAPS is aware of this data, and wants to specifically work with the queer community. It also wants to make the trials as intersectional—and accessible—as possible.

MAPS (the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) studies the effects of MDMA, known on the street as Ecstasy or Molly, on trauma. And this isn’t some backroom, illicit study.

“There is a cultural stigma on identifying as LGBTQ just as much or moreso than there is on psychedelics,” said Burge. “We want this treatment to be accessible to as many people as possible. It’s so psychotherapyheavy that it could be expensive, so we are working on getting it covered by insurance as soon as it is approved, and we want to enroll a diverse population. Clinical trials really suffer from being really uniform; they tend to be heterosexual, white.”

Not only is the research completely legal, the FDA just granted a breakthrough designation to MAPS so the association can continue to look into how the substance helps with PTSD.

Alternative treatments for trauma like cannabis and MDMA certainly aren’t for everyone, but having more tools to deal with PTSD, sexual trauma, and other kinds of pain is hugely helpful.

“The main focus of our work right now is researching MDMA, specifically assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD,” explained Brad Burge, director

As the stigma is slowly removed from substances that can help as well as hurt, the healing can begin for folks seeking help in unusual places.

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PRICE OF YOUR FAVORITE STRAIN KEEPS CHANGING? WHAT’S THAT ABOUT? You find a strain of cannabis you like. You go back two weeks later and the price went up. Same product. Same quantity. Why? It’s probably because the store has less of it in stock. So they raise the price to make it seem “top-shelf.” Really? There’s a better way.

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The Legal Dilemma:: Cannabis Inequality and People of Color OUTFRONTMAGAZINE.COM

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By Alysha Prieto

hree years ago, Halsey’s single “New Americana” hit the airwaves. The indie pop song off her debut album, Badlands, served as commentary on pop culture and was met with mixed reviews. Some listeners found the satirical lyrics about self-made wealth and Nirvana/Biggie references too obvious. More interesting than the singer’s musings on the internet’s impact on American youth, however, was her quick mention of legal cannabis. We Are the New Americana High on legal marijuana In an interview following the song’s release, Halsey conveyed that this “New Americana” was made up of a generation of “woke” youth steeped in each other’s culture, unafraid of diversity, a group that was possibly biracial and possibly gender ambiguous. The romanticism of America as the ultimate melting pot isn’t new. It is, however, problematic, especially when referencing drug use. It can teeter on the tricky line of color blindness, concluding that legality means equity, pushing aside the fact that people of color are targeted more often for drugs and crime and punished more harshly. A report by the ACLU titled The War on Marijuana in Black and White found that cannabis accounts for over half of the drug related crimes in the United States. States first started decriminalizing cannabis, then began legalizing for medical purposes, and eventually, for recreational purposes. Currently, cannabis is legal for medical use in 30 states and recreational use in nine. Federally, the drug is an illegal substance. The disparity in attitudes and treatment when it comes to cannabis and race can be seen all over the country, and especially in Colorado, as the state is a leader in the cannabis industry. In 2016, NPR published an article online titled As Adults Legally Smoke Pot In Colorado, More Minority Kids Arrested For It. They found that because pot is legal if you are over 21, juveniles are being arrested at higher rates, and especially black and Latino youths. “A Colorado Health Department survey found there wasn’t a huge racial difference in who smokes pot. But the marijuana arrest rate for white 10- to 17-year-olds fell by nearly 10 percent from 2012 to 2014, while arrest rates for Latino and black youths, respectively rose more than 20 percent and more than 50 percent,” the article reads. It goes on to cite the reasoning behind these arrests to “complaint-driven” cases as well as the marijuana industry’s lack of people of color. Because the industry is white-dominated,

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so are its customers. By leaving out communities disproportionately arrested and incarcerated by the criminalization of cannabis the industry is leaving the illegal market to them as well, continuing the cycle. “...Communities of color bear the brunt of the impact of discriminatory enforcement of drug laws. That is not necessarily because there is a higher prevalence of drug usage happening within these communities. It’s because there is a laser focus on these communities,” said Ru Johnson, owner of local PR organization Roux Black Consulting. As a person of color who works in the music and entertainment industry, she has seen her share of disproportionate ways communities of color are affected by “draconian law enforcement.” “I am 34 years old, and I have been around long enough to remember before marijuana was legal and the implications that laws created around its usage and its possession as well as other drugs that have impacted communities of color,” she continued. The NAACP reports that, while African Americans and whites use drugs at similar rates, African Americans have an imprisonment rate for drug charges that is over five times that of whites. In general, African Americans are incarcerated more than five times the rate of whites, and while they and Hispanics make up about 32 percent of the population, they represent 56 percent of incarcerated people as of 2015. These and similar studies led the NAACP to find that if these populations were incarcerated at the same rates as their white counterparts, prison and jail populations would decrease by almost 40 percent. Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails LGBT People of Color is a study that examines how anti-LGBT discrimination further discriminates against communities of color. It finds that one in five young people in U.S. juvenile helps boost the economy, regulate cannabis.., and support public..., but it continues to harm... justice facilities identifies as LGBTQ. Eighty-five percent of these individuals are youth of color. The legalization of marijuana has helped with boosting the economy, regulating cannabis for consumer safety, and supporting public programs through taxation, but it has continued to harm the communities that its criminalization hurts the most. While it’s true that so many people in the country are high on legal cannabis so many diverse people at that, the implications and consequences are disproportionate. Everyone can smoke, but not everyone feels safe doing it.

NO MENU? REALLY? Why wouldn’t a cannabis shop have a menu? Maybe because it would reveal they never have many strains in stock. Maybe because they want to be able to change the price of a strain depending on how much of it they have. (Great for them, but not so great for you.) Maybe there’s a much better way.

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Transphobia TraNsphobia Transphobia at at the the Ph P HoW stigMa Hurts gender-AfFirming care By Ezra Kronfeld

ack in April, a pharmacist at a CVS in Fountain Hills, Arizona, refused to fill the hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) prescriptions of Hilde Hall, a transgender woman who had just been prescribed the treatment combination by her doctor. A few weeks later, Hall shared this story on the American Civil Liberties Union blog, stating that she was never given a clear reason why she was denied her medications, and instead had to deal with the pharmacist “asking, loudly and in front of other

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CVS staff and customers, why I was given the prescriptions.” Although Arizona is among a handful of states wherein state laws permit pharmacists to reject prescriptions due to moral objection, CVS quickly apologized and fired the employee. The ACLU petition which spurred this national outcry also sought to pressure new CVS company policies and instruction which would explicitly prohibit this going forward, but we haven’t seen that as of yet.

Pharmacy : harMacy : harmacy There’s been a good deal of coverage as of late in queer media outlets of the roadblocks which trans and non-binary people face on their way to getting on HRT; from having to repeatedly convince doctors of the legitimacy of their gender dysphoria, to dealing with non-inclusive health insurance, folks generally have to jump through a plethora of hoops to begin medical transition. But as Hall’s story shows, getting your prescription filled might spell further issues, which can vary in impact and frequency.

Trans and gender-nonconforming individuals can often lead rather similar lives to cisgender people, but may still face a looming fear of harassment and stigma, and the pharmacy experience is a manifestation of this cultural reality.

According to Emily Kerr, a Denver psychologist with extensive experience counseling members of the LGBTQ community, these kinds of patterns can be genuinely detrimental. She claimed that, “these experiences can be unfortunate setbacks for individuals who feel confident in the trajectory of their transition. It may be helpful to implement policy and procedure around preferred pronoun use, privacy surrounding disclosure to other family members on the health plan who may also access medication from that location, and finally, to always offer an individual consultation for any person if the provider has questions or concerns about the medication.”

“Early on in my transition, I definitely felt nervous when I picked up my prescription,” said Ash, who has taken femaleto-male hormones for the better part of a decade.

Simply making privacy more of a priority at pharmacies is something which Ash supports as a comforting and protective measure. He remarked that pharmacies too often consist of “pharmacists that loudly ask ‘and what medication are you picking up?’ without an option to answer privately.”

“That nervousness wasn’t fueled by any bad experiences with pharmacists on a personal level, but it was at least in part fueled by the bad experiences shared by individuals that did have negative interactions with pharmacists or other customers while attempting to pick up their hormone prescriptions.”

Insurance confusion, pharmaceutical incompetence, and allowable bigotry can all lead to increased vulnerability for trans people, but cultural shifts toward social acceptance and respect for privacy may help to make the gender-affirmation process a bit smoother.

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hey’re cute, queer affirming, and decked out from head to toe in the trippiest of garbs. The Moon Magnet collective does it all; they’re a record label; they have a band; the members play in other bands, and they make art. They pop up at DJ nights around town, play shows, encourage local artists, and collaborate with art collectives like Meow Wolf. We talked to Reed Fuchs of Moon Magnet about art, music, and everything the collective has been working on.

WHAT HAS MOON MAGNET BEEN UP TO? Moon Magnet Compilation Vol. 4 is the album we just came out with. The artist collective has been around since 2013, and we are a record label and recording studio first and foremost. We license music for film and television. The label has been a way to release friends’ music and get more ears on it. This will be our 17th release. It’s 20 songs, out on double cassette and on Spotify. There are mainly Denver artists on the label, but this release has some artists from L.A. too. It came out on July 27. We’ve also been working on Moonhammer; that’s the label’s band, and it’s all made up of friends and collaborators.

THAT’S SO COOL! WHAT HAVE MOONHAMMER DONE SO FAR? Moonhammer have been more active than usual lately. We’ve been a band for about a year, and we usually improvise, but we have some songs online. We just released the soundtrack for this short film, Lily n Rose. It’s an 80s-style film, so we scored an 80s soundtrack to it, and we are releasing three songs on that compilation.

YOU’VE BEEN DOING SOME PARTNERSHIPS WITH ART COLLECTIVE MEOW WOLF. CAN YOU GO INTO MORE DETAIL ABOUT THAT? We’ve done a range of things with Meow Wolf; De Collage, my other band, played there with Dan Deacon on Halloween two years ago, and we collaborated with their Christmas special. We also want to try and get them into Balanced Breakfast, our music industry meetup that I’ve been helping to run for three years with the group Free Music for Free People. It started in San Francisco, and now they have 27 chapters in different cities.

CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT BALANCED BREAKFAST? Every fourth Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Mercury Cafe, we hold it for free. We do free meetups, and we have a different speaker every month, people from labels, publishing companies, non-profits, anything to do with the music industry. The best way to find out about it is the Facebook group; it’s called BB Denver. We’ve had so many amazing people that came in to speak, like we’ve had a lot of University of Colorado Denver professors from the program there; we’ve had Red Bull come in, Levitt Pavilion, Red Rocks, AEG. We hold informal discussions, conversations. The special guests lead it and give background on how they got where they are today.

By Addison Herron-Wheeler Photos By Juli Williams

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WHAT KIND OF VISUAL ART HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON? Two years ago, I got into making installations; the whole Moon Magnet crew did. We make installations for different events, really shiny mylar space blankets and googly eyes. We did one at Desert Days last year; it’s a big psych rock festival kind of like Austin Psych Fest in Joshua Tree. We got to work with Adult Swim; we got to make three huge milar pyramids for people to watch Adult Swim all day at the festival, and hang out in these pyramids where there was air conditioning and teddy bears. We are doing that again this year, doing another installation there, and then probably we are doing an installation at Denver Psych Fest, a festival that I helped run a few years ago, which is now just doing little micro-events.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO DENVER PSYCH FEST? IS IT COMING BACK? We usually call it Synesthesia, and there will be another big one next summer, but this summer it was a part of Underground Music Showcase.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR RECENT DJING AT BLUSH & BLU. I’ve been DJing for two years; last year I started DJing with Kitty Crimes at Blush & Blu. Blush is one of my favorite spots; they’ve been some of the most fun events that I’ve DJed, too, and I have a night coming up there soon, but it’s not officially announced yet.

WHAT OTHER COOL STUFF DO YOU HAVE GOING ON? Moon Magnet had a residency for five years where we throw shows every month at Alamo Drafthouse. We get to book a band, and then the band chooses whatever movie they want; for our next one we are gonna premiere Season One of our surreal reality TV show, Cosmic Pineapple.

WHOA, YOU HAVE A TV SHOW TOO? Yep, it’s been done for two years; it’s just pretty much Cosmic Pineapple, the biggest band in the cosmoverse, and musician Sun Rah shows them the cosmic touring circuit. It begins with a synth battle with Satan. Eventually we are going to premier it at Alamo.

THAT’S AMAZING. ANYTHING ELSE TO ANNOUNCE? There are gonna be a lot of new singles coming out too; we decided instead of just trying to release an album, because that’s too much pressure, to just release a bunch of singles every two weeks, and it’s far more exciting for me. That way we can share more music more often. There will also be a lot more Moon Magnet compilations. Our first one was a mixtape; our second one was on CD, and the third one was on vinyl. This one is on cassette, so I don’t know what the next one is gonna be on. We’ve also been passing out stems to our new singles so that people can remix them, and we’ve received probably like eight remixes of De Collage songs. A lot of them are house remixes, and I’m obsessed with house music. I’m thinking we will kind of release them one at a time, because that way we can have a bunch of music coming out at once. For more info on what Moon Magnet is up to, follow them @MoonMagnetStudios on Facebook or visit MoonMagnetMusic.com

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By Rick Kitzman 2 8 \\ S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 8

s that guy in the sling really getting, you know... by a snake?

That question—and others about sex vignettes— had been asked by my Colorado dancing buddies at New York’s The Saint during its second Black Party in 1982. Tom Mills, Terry Fuller, and Paul Hunter, owners of Denver’s famed bathhouse, the Ballpark, had traveled 1,600 miles just for a party. But what a party! What a dance club! A disco nap was always part of my preparation for a night of dancing. The first time I heard the term PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), I thought it was some new party regimen. I was corrected. One pill that could prevent HIV infection? Seriously? It seemed too easy after the hell I’d been through during the AIDS epidemic (penis envy of a different kind) when a drug cocktail meant acid, MDA, and a quarter Quaalude– not Norvir, Tivicay, Prozista.

The Saint Apex of party palaces, opened in 1980 just as disco was dying and shortly before its members began dying of the “gay cancer.” It represented hard-won gay freedoms to those who expressed freedom as dance, disco, and drugs. New York state had legalized gay sex. Gay rights were on government agendas, and gay bars and dance clubs blossomed like theaters depicting one aspect of gay life. Whether at Charlie’s, Tracks, or The Saint, patrons are, were, actors two-stepping, flailing, or standing still in costumes on a set, improvising. A theater provided the bones for The Saint: Bill Graham’s Fillmore East, the 60s rock venue in the East Village. Capable of accommodating 5,000 bodies, the private club opened only on Saturdays and Sundays and closed for the summer, its members migrating to Fire Island. It served no liquor. Partying 10-plus hours required illegal fuel. Gay men provided the demand, nefarious forces the supply. (A “drugstore” across from the Anvil, a sleazy after-hours club, had a setup just like the candy counter at Annie’s Café on Colfax.)

The Set Bruce Mailman, already minting gay dollars from his New St. Marks Baths, would spend 15,000,000 of them with architect Charles Terrell to conceive the crowning disco: a unique, industrial structure of steel and concrete; a 4,800-square-foot circular dance floor capped by an aluminum dome larger than the Hayden Planetarium; a Spitz Space System star projector 10 times more powerful than most; the largest Graebar sound system (630 drivers, 32 amps, 500 speakers, 26,000 watts); 1,500 lights–every detail executed so gay men could experience life in 3-D: dance, disco, drugs. Lust was a given.

Cast of Characters The Saint was designed for an elite clientele: white, rich, under 40, gorgeous, talented, hung. One trait or knowing a social ally got you in the door. Without apology, the Saint was built for gay men, period.

Costumes Butch apparel and appearance was de rigueur: tight t-shirt and Levi 501 jeans, sneakers or boots, mustache and muscles. But the East Village was undergoing its nascent punk renaissance. Gay denizens did not welcome Christopher Street clones. Clean-shaven artist Keith Haring fought the West Village invasion by spraypainting “Clones Go Home FAFH” (Fags Against Facial Hair) in fluorescent orange on sidewalks.

Act I: Arrival Through brass doors with The Saint etched in frosted glass, my buddies and I opened a gateway to ecstasy. In a black-and-gold marble entry, winding through stanchions to pay was like presenting a passport before taking a flight. A mechanized cloakroom with rotating racks like a fancy dry cleaners could hang the coats of 3,000 partiers. Down a ramp to the enormous main lobby, arrangements of trippy flowers—stood sentry in exquisite, dim lighting. Metal catwalks and circular staircases of wire mesh framed a bar underneath the three story space that used to be the Fillmore East stage. Through the buzz of this hive, muffled music pulsated from the dance floor above, teasing our anticipation until we could wait no longer. If entering The Saint was like going down Alice’s rabbit hole, stepping onto the dance floor was like passing through her looking glass. Every sense was overwhelmed, and if your drugs had kicked in… well, hang on! We were immediately drenched in the sweat of this hothouse, a gridlock of bodies bouncing to its tribal beat. Gypsies gyrated on banquettes, some exotic silhouettes with pin-wheeling fans. Booming music vibrated our bones and permeated every cell, caressing our ears like aural honey. Grids of light pods swiveled and swayed in sync with the music. When a peephole appeared above the dome, a huge, mirrored ball would descend. In the center of the dance floor, the star machine sat atop a 30-foot pole spinning its celestial glitter on the ecstatic boys. With so many revolutions of stars, eons would have passed in one night. Courtesy and smiles prevailed. If you were there, you were pre-approved. You belonged. OUTFRONTMAGAZINE.COM

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Intermission

Denouement

On party nights, two DJs spun, one for the high-energy music, one for the morning set. The music would stop, dancers applauding the star deejay. But instead of the next DJ beginning, a panel of the dome would rise, revealing the night’s featured entertainer. The list reads like a who’s-who of gay icons: Laura Branigan, Divine, Erasure, Gloria Gaynor, Lime, RuPaul, Sylvester, and a hundred more. (Sometimes, a surprise performer would appear unannounced. One night, 50 feet from where I luckily stood, Tina Turner stepped out and sang “Proud Mary.” I thought the crowd would tear the place apart!)

After 10 hours, leaving The Saint to confront the noon day sun (contacts seared to my eyeballs), we would head to the Kiev Restaurant, a 24/7 Ukrainian diner, for food and a recap. (Stop with the snake in the guy; I’m eating.) You’d think everyone would have gone deaf. Despite thundering decibels, the sound system was so pure, earache was never an issue. We’d suffer the typical crash party abuse entails, but the euphoria lasted for days.

Needing a break from the onslaught of unceasing stimulus, we would catch our breath in the main lobby, the social hub, at bars serving complimentary juices and sodas. As the parade of men passed by, one more beautiful than the next, you could find lost dancing buddies, or a trick. If you had a locker, you could change out of a sweat-soaked t-shirt ready for the next round, or grab a joint or a snort of coke or climb the stairs to the balcony. The Saint’s top 20 rows of carpeted banquettes, retained from the original theater, overlooked the dome. Through its perforated screen, you could observe the party below as though from Mount Olympus, a stunning perspective. Gay men were no less horny than Greek gods and created a mass of writhing men.

Act II: Touch Down By 6 a.m. the amateurs had left, and the serious partiers could spread out. My Ballpark buddies and I partied hard, but we loved the slower music: melodic, sleazy, soulful. There was no DJ better to calm down a wired crowd and guide us on a collective trip than Wayne Scott. On rare occasions, his mix of the right songs created a synergy so blithe and ethereal, the entire tribe seemed to beat with one heart in an atmosphere inexplicably still amidst so much stimulus.

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In the middle of the party with the snake and Wayne Scott’s performance for 3,000, Tom had given Wayne $250 and a blank tape. Tom left for Colorado with a reel-to-reel of that night’s program, and gave me his membership card so I could enjoy the club any time. My cassette copies of the ’82 Black Party are like archeological finds. The Saint was of a singular moment in time and place, yet when dancing there, time did not exist. As the AIDS plague ramped up, The Saint became our sanctuary. None of us knew if we’d be next, so what the hell! Let’s dance another dance. The club began patrolling the balcony for men performing unsafe sex and kicking them out. Management had to do something; its audience was dying. This perceived betrayal signaled the end of the sexual revolution of the 60s and the beginning of the AIDS apocalypse of the 80s. How responsible the gay community was in creating its own epidemic was a question angrily and bitterly debated. The Saint closed in 1988, gutted for a bank and condos. No club will ever equal its magnitude, extravagance, and grandeur. Every detail had one decadent purpose: to entertain drugged up gay men with an overwhelming beauty of sight, sound, and flesh. For me, it was just f*cking fun. Drug-induced group euphoria may taint the legitimacy of the unity we had felt there. And I don’t know how important this particular club or particular picture of gay life is. All I know is that a song will play—like Lama’s Love Is on the Rocks or Soft Cell’s Tainted Love—and I’m transported back to a time when I’ve never been happier. My buddies are alive, and we’re dancing under a galaxy of stars at The Saint.

Not all all Not iN gOod in good in good fUN: fun fun: fun:: fun the ‘partY And plAy’ epidemic raVages denver By Ryan Howe

he first time David Young* smoked crystal meth, he didn’t know what he was getting himself into. He had just moved to Denver and was looking for casual sex. He logged into the hookup apps he had downloaded on his phone after a night of drinking, and decided to meet a gentleman at the Midtown Spa, a local bathhouse that was a few blocks from his home in in the Highlands. After he arrived, stripped down, and joined the man in a private room, he was casually asked, “Do you party?” Young’s response, not exactly knowing the context of the question, was a hesitant, "Yes." Young said his hookup showed him how to hit a white, cloudy pipe for the first time. “He waited until a little smoke started coming up out of the pipe and told me to inhale,” Young explained. “It didn’t taste good at all, and I had to hold back

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from coughing. When he finally told me to stop, he handed me the little white towel they give at the bathhouse and told me exhale.” That night, as cliché as it sounds, sparked a two-year road of combining sex with methamphetamines. Commonly known as ‘party and play’ or ‘partying,’ this is not a new fad within the queer community. Methamphetamine is a stimulant drug usually used as a white, bitter-tasting powder or a pill. Crystal meth is a form of the drug that looks like glass fragments or shiny, bluish-white rocks. It is chemically similar to the drug used to treat ADHD. It was popular in the early 2000s among gay men looking to enhance sex with chemical highs, and it’s staging a comeback. In the last couple of years, it has racked up more overdose victims and created a new wave of addicts. But, meth is especially insidious because of the highly addictive qualities, cheap price, and how readily available it is on the streets. “I’d get really high for really cheap,” Seth Jeffrey* said. Jeffrey has been sober for nearly 10 months after using meth for more than three years. “At first I was just hooking up with men who would share with me, and it was free. Then I started buying and would share with other men who were just getting into it. It’s a really vicious cycle.” Jeffrey said that he didn’t seek help after he lost job. He didn’t seek help after he injected the drug in his veins for the first time. He didn’t seek help after nearly getting a DUI. He didn’t even seek help when his friends walked out of his life. He finally sought help after watching someone overdose. The Colorado Department of Public Health’s drug overdose numbers show meth claimed 280 lives in 2017, up from the 196 the year before, and 139 in 2015. Last year’s overdose count was more than five times that recorded in 2012. Meanwhile, Denver arrests for possession of meth nearly tripled in 2017 compared to 2013. The amount of the substance seized by HIDTA-funded drug task forces across Colorado, as well as by Colorado state patrol officers, also

went up from 2016 to 2017. “It’s scared the sh*t out of me,” Jeffrey said. “It hasn’t been easy. But, I’m almost at a year sober, and I’m still picking up the pieces. The hardest part is still how much I see it being used by the people around me and not being tempted to relapse. I recently downloaded Grindr and immediately had to delete it.” He’s not wrong. Log onto Grindr in any part of the Denver Metro Area, and at least a dozen thumbnails promoting ‘party and play’ will appear on the screen. With the recent removal of Craigslist personal ads—a main meeting place for ‘partiers’—a surge of profiles on phone dating apps has gone up. This makes the drug that much more accessible and normalized, he explained. “I spent a good amount of time just staring at it before deleting my profile,” Jeffrey said. “It took a lot of will power, and I’m still pretty proud.” Jeffrey is one of thousands of people currently in treatment for addiction. Released in January, the 12th annual report issued by Colorado’s Substance Abuse Trend and Response Task Force cited that the most recent available data from substance abuse treatment admissions indicated that alcohol, methamphetamine, marijuana, and heroin continue to be the main drugs used by individuals who sought treatment. Meth came in third, with nearly 13 percent—8,600 people— seeking treatment in 2016’s calendar year. Treatment admission for individuals addicted to methamphetamines increased 34 percent between 2008 and 2015. The numbers leveled in 2016. As seen in previous years, individuals ages 25 to 34 are the highest percentage of the population seeking substance abuse treatment for methamphetamine abuse. However, Jeffrey is in the minority when it comes to self-seeking treatment. “I’d say a majority of the people we help do not voluntarily come in for treatment,” Joseph Boyle, program coordinator at The Denver Element, said. One of those programs is the Mile High Recovery Project, an offshoot of Mile High Behavioral Healthcare. This behavioral treatment program

encompasses substance use and mental health concerns specifically for bisexual and gay men, by gay men. The program offers group, one-on-one, and peer-to-peer support groups to help addicts through their recovery—with treatment plans in place to specifically combat meth use. But with the minority of clients voluntarily checking in for treatment, it’s not an easy job. “We want to see people succeed in these programs,” Boyle said. “We definitely make this as much of a safe space as possible. We try to not be clinical and always be sex positive. We want to meet our clients where they are, and you have to approach queer people seeking treatment differently than straight individuals. That’s what we do.” The most recent data out of the National Institute on Drug Abuse found members of the LGBTQ community were more than twice as likely to use illegal drugs. Those numbers came from 2015. The Denver Element has been focusing on the gay men that fall in that category for a decade. But, as it reaches double digits in its age, they are expanding their programs to reach, “The L, B, T, Q, I, and As of LGBTQIA within the next six months,” Boyles said. As a nonprofit, The Denver Element also tries to meet their clients where their wallets are. Accepting medicaid and working on on sliding scale, it is affordable care for the community. Young, unlike Jeffrey, has yet to seek professional help. It’s been a little more than two years since he first smoked, and while he recognizes he has a problem, the effect has yet to reach his social or professional career, he explained. “Honestly, you don’t think it’s a problem until you’re at work on Wednesday afternoon planning how you’re going to get high that night. At first it was Friday, then Thursday, and I’m not sure when it will be Tuesday,” Young admitted. “If I could go back to that night I would have never walked to the Midtown. I’m not sure if it would have changed anything, but I’d like to think this all could have been avoided.” *Names in this article have been changed to provide anonymity to our sources. OUTFRONTMAGAZINE.COM

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emBodies color, cultUre, And creatiVity

Story & Photos By Veronica Holyfield

azing down the long line of festival-goers at the entrance gates of 27 Street and Blake Street in RiNo, there was an undeniable energy circulating. It was a blissful, 74 degree afternoon, and a cool breeze swept through the city, setting the perfect atmosphere for a late-summer outdoor music festival. Back for its second year, Velorama smashes together two unlikely worlds—cycling and music. The three-day festival was a finish line for hardcore cyclists and a starting line for one of the most diverse and dynamic indie-rock concerts of the year. Cyclists showed up to race and do tricks, and music fans filed out for the event that sets the stage for a fall full of new record releases and sweet shows. As each morning progressed, another leg of the Colorado Classic bike race took place right in the middle of the fest. Brought directly from Vail, these competitors wound their way back to the neighborhood to finish in afternoons of BMX flips and tricks on the ramps and races against the A-Line commuter train passing by. Woven through the pathway of hula-hoops and cornhole games, the beer relay course lined up beside expansive vendor zone of cyclist gear, healthy snacks, and kombucha samples. Thanks to Velorama’s partnership with DRINK RiNO, more than a dozen local craft breweries brought in their tastiest beverages, from robust Ratio and Odell Brewing Company to the sweet Stem Ciders and C Squared Ciders. Along with delightful, handcrafted cocktails and delicious wines, food trucks were in abundance, ready to entice festival-goers with their unique entrees and treats. RiNo has officially solidified itself as more than a neighborhood, but a place to experience culture, and this festival drove that idea home. The event drew singles, couples, groups, and families. Kids younger than 10 years old got in for free, giving this is a familyfriendly vibe with a hard lean toward fun for those over 21.

But wait, the best part! The music! This festival was indierock music heaven. A massive main stage welcomed visitors as they entered and included an incredible mix of dreamboat local and national bands. Each night brought in band after band that got the energy of the 10,000-plus crowd more and more pumped. With a hypnotic and high-energy set, The Kills took the stage Friday night and brought in the headbanging, hair flipping rock that this festival needed to get things going. Saturday night crushed with the most packed lineup of the three nights. Local singer/songwriter Brent Cowles opened the night with an incredible set and then ushered out national treasures Lo Moon, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Cold War Kids, and The Growlers. Due to travel issues the night before, the highly anticipated (and rescheduled) Modest Mouse brought a lot of energy to the stage and closed out the night in the only way they know how, by lighting a fire to the city. As they finished their set, the heat from downtown couldn’t be contained anymore, as the gods let out the baddest rain storm of the season. Sunday was no-holds-barred, and while typically the chillest night of a three-day festival, Velorama was the exception to the rule. Denver locals Wildermiss put on the best show they have yet to date and got everyone on their feet dancing. However, the killer closer to the weekend were headliners Matt and Kim, who started off the night with confetti cannons while hundreds of balloons, dozens of blow up dolls, and massive beach balls bounced around the audience. There wasn’t a moment the band wasn’t shaking their asses, jumping on and off the bass drum, and genuinely having the time of their lives. While summer is no stranger to art and music festivals galore, 2018 wrapped up with one of the biggest that has Denver buzzing. While competitive bicycling, craft beverages, and rock music may not always appear to be a seamless combination, Velorama is the up-and-coming festival of downtown, and sure to be a Denver staple. OUTFRONTMAGAZINE.COM

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the BitcH From neW York city Hits the Mile High city by Denny Patterson

urning looks, stunting pretty, Aquaria is the bitch from New York City—and she’s making her way with the crown to Denver.

From the moment Aquaria stomped her way into the workroom on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10, she demanded our presence. This high-fashion high-energy, confident queen demanded attention, whether it be good or bad. Regardless of your opinion on the outspoken queen, you have to admit the bitch from New York City anihilated the competition. That’s a hard thing to do when you’re up against some big personalities. OUT FRONT chatted with the competition’s reigning queen about her her time on the show, her current gig touring with RuPaul’s Werq the World tour, and her plans for the future.

CONDRAGULATIONS ON WINNING THE MOST RECENT SEASON OF RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE! AS THE REIGNING QUEEN, HOW HAS IT BEEN? It’s been good! I have been scheduled and booked with shows all over the world since the big win, so I’ve been traveling and haven’t had more than five minutes to myself. So, it’s been stressful in that regard, but I am super grateful and very appreciative for the ability to do my job and have a job that I love. My brand is growing, and I’m growing. I’ve been working hard, just as I’ve always been, just in different area codes now.

YOU ARE COMING TO DENVER FOR THE WERQ THE WORLD TOUR. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT? Werq the World Tour is a whole stage production with numbers performed by all the cast mates and solo numbers. We have choreography with crazy props and fun visual arrangements. It’s pretty much the highest level of entertainment that we’re seeing with drag. This is, like, at the point where it’s the most acceptable level. The best of the best. It’s a fantastic show, and I have never heard a single complaint about it. We are traveling across the world showing off different types of drag, and audiences will see drag utilized in different aspects, like singing and dancing. 3 8 \\ S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 8

I have been given as far as trying to go above and beyond what’s expected. I want to try to set a good example for people to grow and live by and be able to learn via my experiences.

EVEN THOUGH YOU WON, LOOKING BACK AT THIS PAST SEASON, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY? I don’t have too many regrets, and I think everything I did, whether it was good or bad or either, it still kind of led itself up to the end. I think, in the least “pageantry” way, those were all vital events that were required for the journey. Like any other contestant, I wish I had a little more time to polish a look or perfect something, but those are all little things. I don’t even think of them or see them anymore. I now focus on the good things, and any regrets I have are completely nullified.

YOU ARE TOURING WITH SEVERAL OTHER BIG-NAME DRAG RACE GIRLS AND MICHELLE VISAGE. IS THE TOUR BUS FULL OF LOVE OR DRAMA? I’m sure there will be a lot of dramatic moments [laughs]. We are traveling on a teeny little bus, and we are the biggest of personalities. We all get along well, and we are all professional, so if someone tries to start drama, we will just have to wait and see how it goes.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT TOURING? My favorite part about touring is honestly getting to perform every night. Obviously, the traveling is not always the most glamorous feeling, and there is a lot of stress that comes with that. A lot of stress also comes with the crazy times of day when we have to get ready, but I always have the most fun onstage performing in front of an audience, and being able to do that every night is fantastic.

IS WINNING THE DRAG RACE CROWN EVERYTHING YOU HOPED IT WOULD BE? For sure! I feel like I haven’t really had a second to, not enjoy, but soak in any of the perks or the excitement of it. It comes with a lot of responsibilities, but it’s fantastic, and the crown looks great sitting on my shelf right here.

TAKE ME BACK TO THE MOMENT WHEN YOU NAME WAS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED. WHAT WERE YOU FEELING? It was unbelievable. A lot of people sort of saw it coming when you look back at the track record of the show and how you think the finale went, you kind of estimate what may happen, but then there’s always something that doesn’t happen. Winning was very surreal, and it took me a second to kind of accept it. Certainly, it was much better than losing, but it’s very cool and honoring. I was very humbled in that moment.

WHAT KIND OF LEGACY DO YOU HOPE TO LEAVE? I’m not sure. I think with drag, I am able to do a lot of things I normally wouldn’t be able to do had someone been giving me opportunities out of drag. I want to take advantage of the platform

AND YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WERE ACCURATELY PORTRAYED ON YOUR SEASON? NO “BITCH” OR “DUMB QUEEN” EDITS? Yes. I mean, I think the editing on the show, we have to highlight this dramatic event on an episode, but everything you saw on the TV was pretty true to what happened on the show. I don’t think there was anything that didn’t happen in real life but somehow magically happened on the show. I think everyone was generally accurately portrayed. Some people kind of get the short end of the stick sometimes when it comes to that. If you slip and fall on the runway and that’s the only thing you did, God forbid you go home the first episode.

WHICH CHALLENGE WAS YOUR FAVORITE, AND WHY? I definitely loved the Last Ball on Earth challenge. It was fun to have a moment to just give full-on runway, turn looks and be able to create this triad of looks. It was an easier challenge for me, and I feel I excelled in it.

THERE HAS RECENTLY BEEN SOME BACKLASH ABOUT THE WAY DRAG RACE PORTRAYS MINORITIES WITHIN THE QUEER COMMUNITY. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS? I don’t think I can really speak on the portrayals, because a lot of that does not affect me personally, and I don’t think I necessarily have the proper insights on that. I know that the interpretation of them by a lot of the fans has caused a lot of issues, but I don’t think I’m the best person to speak on their behalf. I would hope minorities queens would use their platform and raise their voice and amplify their message.

AFTER THE TOUR, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT NEXT FROM AQUARIA? ANY BIG PROJECTS WE SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR? A lot of tours and shows will be coming out throughout the U.S. and internationally. Make sure to check out my website, AgeOfAquaria.com, for future updates. Keep an eye out or you might miss them! The official RuPaul’s Drag Race Werq the World Tour will be heading to the Paramount Theatre on Thursday, September 20. Hosted by season eight winner Bob the Drag Queen, and also featuring Season 10 runner-ups Asia O’Hara, Kameron Michaels, and Eureka; as well as veteran queens Kim Chi, Valentina, and Violet Chachki, this is a can’t-miss night for drag enthusiasts. Tickets can be purchased at WerqTheWorld.com.

GRANDOOZY

to Shake the City this Summer

By Caitlin Galiz-Rowe

his summer, Denver is getting its own giant music festival in the form of Grandoozy. From Superfly, the creators of Bonaroo and Outside Lands, Grandoozy will be in Overland Park on September 14, 15, and 16. Oh yeah, it will also be held every September for the next five years.

who is currently touring her critically acclaimed album Masseduction. St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, has had high profile relationships with Kristen Stewart and Cara Delevingne, and says she perceives her sexuality as something fluid that doesn’t need a label.

Along with some great music, the event will also feature “Devour Denver,” an area spearheaded by local “culinary ambassadors” to showcase a variety of foods from the Denver cuisine scene; a craft beer experience known as “Arts and Crafts;” cocktails made with liquor from local distilleries; “The Backyard,” an area to enjoy and celebrate outdoor activities; and an 80s ski lodge so concert-goers can bask in nostalgia.

Denver has been growing at a steady rate for some time now, so it’s no surprise that we now have our very own music festival. Judging by how much Denverites love music, craft beer, and a good party, this is sure to be the first of more than five major music fests in the metro area.

Standard three-day passes are $259.50, and VIP passes are $599.50. On Friday, you’ll get to see headliner and rap superstar Kendrick Lamar take the stage. Fresh off his 2017 album, Damn, and his singles on the acclaimed Black Panther soundtrack, Lamar is sure to give an incredible performance. Saturday’s headliners are indie rock darlings Florence and the Machine—who will most likely play the songs from their new album High as Hope alongside some old favorites. The festival’s final headliner is none other than the legendary Stevie Wonder. What better way to bring the first-ever Grandoozy to a close than with a legend of pop music? In addition to these musical powerhouses, the festival is also featuring 32 other artists, and is hinting that even more unannounced performers will take the stage. Unlike other music fests, which cater to a specific subgenre, the fest looks to have something for almost everyone. Of particular note in the lineup is queer musician St. Vincent, 4 0 \\ S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 8

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Colorado Has a Shortage of Foster Parents:

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s states across the country pass laws that allow discrimination in foster care and adoption, the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) is raising awareness that everyone, especially members of the LGBTQ+ community, are welcome and encouraged to foster and adopt throughout Colorado. Getting this message out is especially important given the need for foster families in every community. Based on a CDHS analysis, the state needs 1,200 additional foster families by 2019. “Sometimes, with very little notice, caseworkers have to scramble to find a family ready and able to care for a child or teen who is entering foster care while their parents address safety concerns and learn new skills,” Minna Castillo Cohen, director of the CDHS Office of Children, Youth and Families, said. “We need additional foster families so that caseworkers can choose among many possible families, so that each child or teen’s unique needs are met, and they’re able to stay close to home.” For an LGBTQ+ child or teen in foster care, having a stable, affirming foster family is especially important. National research shows that young people who identify as LGBTQ+ are overrepresented within foster care. LGBTQ-identified children and teens experience foster care for many of the same reasons as other young people in care, but they potentially have the added layer of trauma that comes with being rejected or mistreated because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. “Every child and teen deserves a nurturing, affirming family that provides them with a safe place to process their feelings of grief and loss; gives them the freedom to express who they are; and offers the support they need to become responsible, happy, and healthy adults,” Castillo Cohen said. Last year, 10,040 children and teens lived in an out-of-home placement like a

foster family, group home, or residential treatment center for their safety. Today in Colorado, there are approximately 4,868 children and teens in out-of-home placement. If it is not possible to ensure the safety and well-being of a child in their own home, a caseworker looks to family or friends willing to provide a temporary home while the parent or caregiver works to improve the situation at home. These families are known as “kinship families.” There are approximately 1,557 children and teens living with a kinship family, and there are approximately 2,190 children and teens living with a foster family. An additional 809 children and teens are living in a congregate settings, such as a residential treatment center or a group home. Many of these 809 children and teens are ready to live with a foster family, where they are better able to heal from their past traumatic experiences, but no foster family is available to care for them. Colorado does not discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. You can be married, single, divorced, or living with a partner or friend. You can be a first-time parent or an experienced parent. You can own your home or condo, or you can rent. All that matters is you’re ready to make a difference for a child or teen at a time in their life when they need you the most. Learn more about how you can help a child in Colorado at CO4Kids.org/fosterpride.

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My name is Joseph Boyle. I’m a 27 year-old gay man, with a master’s in counseling, and I fell in love with a married couple. Don’t worry, I’m going to gloss over the melodramatic retelling of 50 Shades of Gay and jump straight to point. What this crazy ordeal taught me is, you

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HEINZESIGHT: HEINZESIGHT : HEINZSEIGHT: HEINZSEIGHT HEINZESIGHT:: Am i in An AbUsive relationship? By Brent Heinze

or most of us, it can be relatively easy to spot an abusive situation when it is obvious. There is usually yelling or aggressive language with a high chance of some type of physical altercation. We may not know or understand what is going on between the people, but we are often painfully aware that something is wrong. In our society, the ways we deal with disagreements is a crucial component of how we determine if a relationship is working for us or not. Although it is normal to have strife between people when fighting, it is important to make positive decisions about how we manage what we do with our words and fists during these situations. Abuse can be generally described as concerning behaviors or actions intended to hurt or control someone or their choices. The stereotype of an abusive relationship would likely include someone being yelled at or hit for not completing a task or doing something unfavorable. In the past it was generally considered to be most often perpetrated by the patriarch of the family. Over time, not only did we start recognizing that abuse could come from any member in a relationship, we also started to recognize that there were a variety of concerning aspects and patterns that can exist between people. There are many ways that abuse can permeate relationships. A slap across the face can be a strong indicator that something is wrong, but there are many more subtle ways that people attempt to control others. We all get in arguments and may have tendencies to say 5 0 \\ S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 8

hurtful things at times. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to do when you get into a heated argument. We often learn how to disagree and work through conflict growing up within our biological families. We also get exposed to how other people fight through our own relationships and watching others. Hopefully our teachers and experiences have given us the ability to create a firm foundation of positive communication, compassionate interactions, and effective problem-solving skills. Unfortunately, many of us have been exposed to dysfunctional relationships that have reinforced some poor behaviors. It can also be difficult to remain calm when arguments bring up feelings of insecurity, distrust, or anger. Many times, people have difficult upbringings where they may have been hurt or abused by other people. It is unfortunate that physical, sexual, and emotional abuse happens often in our society and can cause deeply ingrained scars in people. There are times where these types of situations hurt someone to the point where they lash out against others. Regardless of why abuse happens, these patterns cause more harm than good in relationships and need to be confronted. Having open and honest communication is important, but often it takes the support of a trained mental health professional to help people acknowledge and address these concerns. Often when our relationships begin, feelings of comfortable, utopian perfection overwhelm us. It is unimaginable that we would ever argue or disagree about anything, even after spending an exorbitant amount of time together. Although

many relationships maintain their beauty, some unfortunately become unhappy quickly. It takes time to get to know someone, and sometimes concerning personality characteristics are uncovered over time. Some people work very hard to keep these hidden from their partner or other people in their lives. Regardless of when they start to be noticed, it is extremely important to discuss concerns and set some boundaries with certain behaviors before these patterns get out of hand. These behaviors can creep up on us slowly and sometimes without warning. They may progress so subtly that we don’t even notice them until we're in the middle of getting really hurt. There are times that our friends may notice controlling or concerning patterns even before we do and may choose to say something. Their concern can put strain on the friendship, and we may not be receptive to hearing their perspective or fear. It can be a difficult to tell someone something that they might not want to hear. We may notice that situations aren’t going well and that there are concerns about how a relationship is progressing. There are times when we may fight against our own perceptions and hope that things will improve on their own over time. Maybe we feel that part of being a good partner is making someone happy by doing everything they want and avoiding those things that cause difficulties. This can be a slippery slope when it comes to abusive situations. Often when these types of circumstances happen, they do not get better and often become more intense and destructive as the relationship progresses. There are many ways these types of abusive patterns can play out in relationships. Keep in mind that none of us are perfect and some of these can happen in a healthy relationship as well. Consider if any of these are concerns with your you or your partner.

Needing to Walk on Eggshells to Avoid Conflict Very few of us look for fights, but actively avoiding situations for fear that they will cause a huge emotional explosion can be a sign that you may be in a controlling relationship. Be aware that your fear of causing an argument or experiencing negative repercussions for your actions is a concern.

Intense Mood Shifts Throughout our day there may be experiences that make us smile or tick us off. Be careful about situations where a type of emotional “snap” can happen. Everything can be going well and then in an instant go to hell quickly, sometimes with little to no warning. This type of rapid change often causes a partner to have to spend more energy trying to avoid conflict or look for potential threats that could trigger drama.

Fearing Repercussions None of us like getting into trouble, but being in a relationship where we are afraid of negative outcomes from our partner should be a huge red flag that we are in a concerning situation.

Changing Rules or Expectations Consistency is one of the most important parts in any relationship. When instability exists, we feel less likely to know what to expect, and this can lead into situations where people feel that they can’t possibly win. What is a correct decision in one moment can be completely wrong another time. This is often due to the mood change in a partner. Be careful about feeling unbalanced or unsure in a relationship.

Withholding Love, Affection, or Sex There are times when we might not be in the mood for messing around, but be aware about situations where you have little control over when or how intimacy will happen. Be careful if showing physical or emotional support is based on their approval or disapproval of what you do.

Accusations We all have our perceptions, but there are times when paranoia can seem to take over, and we may become suspects in what feels to be a story from a strange alternate universe. These paranoid perceptions may seem to come out of the blue, but they are often brought on by a complex series of mental conversations that we are not aware of. We may have done nothing wrong, but are held responsible just as if these perceptions were factual.

Isolation from Friends and Support Networks Sometimes seeing friends happens less often when getting into a new relationship, but be concerned when it feels that your friendships with other people are not valued or you are told that important people in your life shouldn’t be trusted.

Sacrificing Interests Compromising how we spend our time and energy is normal, but giving up things that are important to us can cause resentment to build. Be careful about the subtle ways that someone can control your actions, including making fun of them or disapproving how they take up time or resources.

Feeling Beat Down or Powerless When we are faced with a situation where we cannot potentially win, we run the risk of giving up and rolling over. The experience of hopelessness can destroy our motivation and self-worth.

Flipping Blame or Responsibility Rarely is a conflict only caused by a single person. Be aware of feeling that you are always the one causing the argument or problems in the relationship. It takes two to tango, and can’t always be your fault. OUTFRONTMAGAZINE.COM

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