When Kim Salvaggio stepped onto the Center Stage of Denver PrideFest with her two teenage kids by her side, it meant a lot. She would have loved to see other families like hers when she was growing up. Her wife, parents, sister, and two younger kids were also there dressed in full rainbow colors.
Crowds at Center Stage cheered throughout the Denver PrideFest weekend
Listening to the crowd cheer for them showed the love from this supportive community of more than 550,000 who showed up for Denver Pride this year. The work didn’t stop there, Salvaggio said, and after taking a moment to breathe, she reflected on the weekend.
“The week leading up to it, I drove to work with one song on repeat,” she said. “The song is Tracy Chapman’s Talkin’ Bout a Revolution. It’s more than a song; it’s a manifesto. It speaks to social, racial, and systemic oppression. It calls us to have empathy for those most impacted and to believe in the power of collective action to change the world. The revolution it imagines isn’t violent. It’s built on awareness, resilience, and determination.
“Pride is both a protest and a celebration. It’s about all of us. And it is a revolution,” Salvaggio added.
“Thousands of people clapped their fans, jumping with Pattie Gonia. Thirteen thousand marchers filled the streets, 3,600 people raced with purpose, and community leaders stood in solidarity. Volunteers were moved to tears watching Sinna-G and DeMarcio take their final bows after decades of leading their stages. And there was Stellan Knowles from Tennessee, boldly declaring from the Main Stage: ‘Queer is the new regime.’”
Salvaggio also talked about the quiet moments of around-the-clock Free Mom Hugs; encountering José, who keeps the park stunningly beautiful; and hugging a friend who got to experience their first Pride as themself.
Community members pose together for a photo during Denver PrideFest
And above all, she thanked the dedication of volunteers and staff who showed up Monday after working nonstop for days to unload event materials from a truck and keep programs going at The Center.
“That’s who they are,” Salvaggio said. “That’s who we are. The power of our people -- our staff, our volunteers -- and the voices of people shouting: We are NOT going back. Happy Pride. Love is love.”
‘Doing an intense job’
Salvaggio started as CEO of The Center on Colfax in late May, mere weeks before the nonprofit's largest fundraising event of the year. She said it was like “drinking from a fire hose on steroids,” but the benefit was not having a choice to learn everything quickly.
She got to see how a small staff puts on a huge event in real time “with real challenges, real hurdles, and how they come together to get over them.” The small but mighty team members rely on each other, contractors, and countless volunteers.
Kim Salvaggio embraces Tyi Reddick, one of the photographers who works Denver Pride annually
“The magic of it is some of the folks that I've met that work as contractors, they're telling me, ‘This is my 10th year or this is my fifth year’,” Salvaggio said. “That type of sustainability, and the people that want to participate in this and want to be a contractor or want to be a volunteer, it seems consistent over years, which says to me that this is a great team, keeping people engaged in doing an intense job.”
Fundraising keeps the event free, and Denver boasts one of the only large Pride events across the country that doesn’t charge people to attend. The money raised through donations and corporate sponsorships also allows The Center to offer free programming 362 days a year.
“One thing that I am determined about as CEO is that we will not charge people to come to The Center to access the services that they need,” she said. “How can we raise the funds to be able to support employing queer people and serving queer people here, especially our most vulnerable, without any type of paywall? That's what I'm interested in doing.”
Corporate sponsorships do help, but they must be the right ones. People who support the work are welcome as part of Pride, but she added that it’s important to work with businesses to determine which ones are transformational rather than transactional. It is also important to listen to community members who have voiced concerns that the process hasn’t felt transparent and find ways to get their feedback into The Center’s plans for the future. Over the next 30 days, The Center’s staff will be reviewing sponsors based on this feedback, and plan to report back to the community once decisions are made.
A pride flag waves above the sea of community members attending Denver PrideFest
“You can have sponsorships,” she said “but can we work with those sponsors to make sure that the way that they're giving us dollars is for their employees to feel included, to feel seen at work and safe and understand the protections that they have? Or is it to make a buck? That's a hard line to figure out.”
This year was different, especially with federal rollbacks on support for DEI and with Supreme Court decisions impacting lifesaving care for youth. Feeling the rollbacks and general economic pressures, some corporate sponsors pulled funding, and more challenges lie ahead.
“I have a Trans daughter who is in gender affirming care,” Salvaggio said. “Because of a number of different things, my wife and I have been able to keep her in gender affirming care – one of the biggest factors being that we live in Colorado. I don't think of it as gender affirming care — it's life affirming care. Anyone with a child who has gone through this knows that once their child enters the care plan, it's a different kiddo. It's the real kiddo.”
With other states limiting access to gender affirming care, Salvaggio is on a mission to support the influx of families seeking a haven in Colorado – those who will need The Center to help. With more community members to serve comes a need to procure more funding.
And it’s not just about The Center. “This is collective,” she said. “The Center might be right for your kid, but maybe you are a family of color, and YouthSeen is going to be right because it's going to support in a much more intentional way around the intersectionality of identity. It might be One Colorado where you want to be more involved in policy, because there's a direct policy that's impacting your family.”
An attendee shows off their rainbow fan at Center Stage
Organizations across the state, Salvaggio said, need to come together to support LQBTQ+ families seeking sanctuary here.
As a mother, community member and human being, she said her heart goes out to those families and kids. As a CEO, she knows that fulfilling the needs of our growing community is going to require money and partnerships. “It's going to require rest and resiliency, and probably some harsh truths as a community. We can't be in competition. We have to work together.”
She also called on allies to be involved. “I'm not saying this is easy, but I'm saying there needs to be a consciousness around it,” she challenged. “When we use the words, ‘I'm too tired, I have no space. I can't push back.’ Who ultimately pays the price? That's the question you have to ask.” And if you have more room to read or learn, she says, “Maybe send a check, volunteer some time, or make a couple phone calls. You can do it; if you really take the time to think about how those systems work, then you can actively participate in dismantling them.”
She adds: “When you are seen, loud, and visible, you make a statement. You say ‘I support this community. I support inclusion - not just for queer people, but for anybody that has been marginalized or underrepresented.’”
Two attendees pose for a photo as Denver Pride winds down for the weekend
Denver Pride and The Center are spaces where people can live their truth, she added. “It's about love and acceptance and prosperity and thriving. And yes, you can have all of these things. You can have a family, you can have children, you can have security in your job. That matters. It matters to have that representation.”
Salvaggio said she didn’t have that representation as a kid, and it put her on a difficult path, thinking there was no option for her to be herself.
“For anybody coming up after me, I want them to see us thriving. And that is the resistance. It's a key part of resistance. When we say joy as resistance, that's what we're talking about. You're going to see me thriving. You're going to see me kiss my wife and hug my kids and my kids being who they are, because that matters. That lets you know you can do this, too, and we're here for you.”
And she added, “I promise there's something for you here. Whether you are a kiddo and want to get involved in Rainbow Alley, or you're the parent of a kiddo, there's something. Do the Google search, find The Center, go to the website, sign up, start following the socials. See what groups are happening and let it draw you in.”
About the Author: Linda Kotsaftis
With over 25 years of experience in the broadcast media industry, Linda is an innovative content leader who works to create impactful, engaging, and diverse stories for various audiences and platforms. Linda is the current editor of Front Porch Newspaper and the winner of multiple awards for her work in journalism, diversity, equity, inclusion, and innovation.
Linda has joined The Center as a contract journalist to uplift the stories of Denver Pride through the eyes of our community. Click here to discover more Stories of Pride.