In 1975, attorney Jerry Gerash convened a coalition called "Unity" that grew from 10 to 39 LGBTQ+ organizations. In November 1976, 22 members of that coalition drafted bylaws for what would become the Gay Community Center of Colorado. The center opened in August 1977 in a house owned by the First Unitarian Society at 1436 Lafayette Street, funded by roughly $10,000 raised through grassroots donations.

An earlier effort had existed briefly: the Gay Coalition of Denver operated an office at 1450–1460 Pennsylvania Street from 1973 to 1974, run by Cordell Boyce. It closed after approximately one year due to lack of funding. The 1976 founding represented the community's second attempt — this time with broader organizational support and staying power. Today, the Center on Colfax in Denver remains the longest-running LGBTQ+ community center in the Rocky Mountain region. LGBTQ+ Denver Guide

Phil Nash, one of the Center's first volunteers and its first salaried coordinator, recalled the hostility of the era. He described being shot at with pellet guns from cars driving past on East Colfax. The Center existed in a climate where its mere presence was provocative, and its staff and volunteers faced physical danger as part of their daily work.

The name evolved through several iterations: Gay Coalition of Denver became Unity, then the Gay Community Center of Colorado, then the GLBT Community Center of Colorado, and finally The Center on Colfax. Each name change reflected shifts in language, politics, and the community's understanding of itself. Colfax Avenue Queer History

Phil Nash, one of the Center's first volunteers and its first salaried coordinator, recalled being shot at with pellet guns from cars driving past on East Colfax. The Center survived that hostility — and AIDS, Amendment 2, and 50 years of change — to become the institutional backbone of LGBTQ+ Colorado.

On July 6, 2010, the Center moved to 1301 East Colfax Avenue — a 15,000-square-foot building that had previously housed the Metropolitan Industrial Bank (1959–1990) and then a Video One store. The capital campaign was led by Barbara Harrison and Christopher K.M. Leach, funded in part by a bequest from Roy Wood. The new location sits half a block from the Center's first office on Pennsylvania Street.

The building gave the Center on Colfax Denver's LGBTQ+ community a permanent anchor in Capitol Hill. For the first time, youth services, elder programs, mental health counseling, and administrative offices all operated under one roof.

The Center sits in Capitol Hill, Denver's most walkable and densely populated neighborhood and the historic core of the city's LGBTQ+ community. Capitol Hill is home to 323 public parks and green spaces across the broader Denver system, including nearby Cheesman Park — long a gathering place for the queer community. The neighborhood has changed significantly since the Center's founding: once affordable and countercultural, it now contends with rising rents and development pressure while retaining its identity as Denver's most LGBTQ+-concentrated district.

Safety remains a consideration for the community. Denver Open Data reports approximately 20,000 crime incidents in the Capitol Hill area in recent data, a figure that reflects the neighborhood's density and nightlife activity rather than any particular threat to the LGBTQ+ community. The Center itself has long served as a safe gathering point, and its physical presence on Colfax continues to signal belonging. Denver Crime Map | Denver Parks Map

Rainbow Alley, established in 1998, is a drop-in center for LGBTQ+ youth ages 11 to 21. West of 50, formerly SAGE of the Rockies dating to the 1980s, serves LGBTQ+ elders. The Glass Lawler Mental Health program provides counseling, and the Legal Program handles over 160 cases per year. The Terry Mangan Memorial Library holds more than 2,000 volumes.

The Colorado LGBTQ History Project, housed at the Center, has conducted more than 100 oral histories and donated over 30 collections to the Denver Public Library. The Center also founded the Colorado AIDS Project in 1983 and has produced PrideFest since 1989 or 1990. The Transgender Program and RANGE education initiative round out a service portfolio that reaches more than 50,000 people annually.

The Center on Colfax functions as the institutional memory of LGBTQ+ Colorado. While bars open and close, organizations rise and fold, the Center has maintained continuous operations through the AIDS crisis, the Amendment 2 battle, the marriage equality movement, and the current era of anti-trans legislation. Its longevity provides organizational continuity that few LGBTQ+ institutions in any American city can match.

That continuity matters because institutional knowledge is fragile. The Center's history project, library, and archival partnerships with the Denver Public Library ensure that the community's story survives beyond the memory of any individual participant. Back to the LGBTQ+ Denver Guide

More from LGBTQ+ Denver: Denver PrideFest: From 50 People in a Park to 550,000 in the Streets · Cheesman Park: Denver's Queer Gathering Place Since the 1950s

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