The Human Rights Campaign and One Colorado Hosted Campaign Kick Off Event to Mobilize Voters for Pro-Equality Candidates in 2022 Midterm Elections

On Sunday, the Human Rights Campaign and One Colorado – leading national and local LGBTQ+ organizations – hosted a campaign kick-off event to mobilize voters for pro-equality candidates in the 2022 midterm elections this November.

 

The event included remarks from U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, and local nonprofit leaders and activists about extremist politicians’ escalated attacked on LGBTQ+ people and how Coloradans can support pro-equality, pro-choice, and pro-democracy candidates up and down the ballot.

 

HRC’s election program will mobilize 1.5 million “Equality Voters” in Colorado for whom LGBTQ+ equality is a make-or-break issue through volunteer canvassing, phone banking, voter registration drives, among other efforts. HRC’s strategy will be fueled in part by a highly energized grassroots network that includes volunteers across the state. HRC endorsed Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser earlier this year.

 

Please view a recording of the remarks and photos from the event. Remarks came from:

 

U.S. Senator Michael Bennet:

“There is a lot at stake this year on the ballot. There are obviously candidates at stake but what is really at stake is our democracy. Our country’s history has always been a battle between the highest ideals on the one hand that we wrote down in the pages of the Constitution – words that the Attorney General knows well – and the worst impulses in human history… We cannot let the Supreme Court be the last word on a woman’s right to choose, we must make sure that we elect pro-equality majorities in the House and Senate – both here and in Washington, DC – and we’ve got to make sure that we’re constantly on the side of those higher ideals.”

 

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser:

“In the Dobbs decision, Justice Clarence Thomas said the quiet words out loud. This Supreme Court is ready to overturn marriage equality, which means marriage equality is on the ballot... Everyone deserves to be protected. Everyone is worthy of equal treatment under the law. We in Colorado have made a transition that we must continue to be vigilant about – from the ‘hate state’ to the first state to elect an openly gay person as its governor. We can do that again this year when we fight for equality on the ballot.”

 

Brandi Hardy, Associate Regional Campaign Director at the Human Rights Campaign:

“We’re here today because every family, every child, and every Coloradan deserves the same protections as everyone else – to live their lives with safety, dignity, privacy, and free from discrimination. We deserve leaders who will fight for all of us. I know many of you share my pride in being a Coloradan and living in a state that has many protections for LGBTQ+ people. But we also know that our fight for equality is far from over. Today, the rights of millions of Americans across the country are being held hostage by an extremist minority of anti-equality judges and politicians who are stripping away the rights of LGBTQ+ people, women, and people of color — attacking our families, our right to vote, and our right to make decisions about our own bodies…We refuse to sit by and the majority of Americans will send a strong message by showing up at the ballot box this November.”

 

Matthew Bell, Political, Organizing, and Field Manger at One Colorado:

“With so much at stake this year, we continue to advocate for equality for the LGBTQ+ community. We’re encouraging our supporters to vote with pride in the November 8 election.”

 

HRC’s Commitment to Colorado

 

Equality Voters, including the 1.5 million in Colorado, are a voting bloc of demographically and geographically diverse Americans who are united by the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality. Equality Voters are younger, more racially diverse, and more female than the general electorate, they recognize and trust the HRC brand, and they are more likely to identify with issue-specific organizations than candidates or political parties.

 

Across the country, HRC PAC works every day to elect pro-equality leaders who support policies that will support the rights and lives of LGBTQ+ people. During the 2020 election cycle, HRC staff on the ground recruited 5,800 individual volunteers nationwide who completed 28,500 hours of voter contact in more than 2,650 volunteer events. HRC engaged in robust digital and online GOTV efforts, including sending over 2.7 million person-to-person text messages, a massive increase from 2018 when approximately 500,000 texts were sent. HRC sent over 2.5 million mail pieces, had over 930,000 phone conversations with voters, and engaged more than 200,000 voters through HRC’s voter dashboard at hrc.org/vote.

Cheers to another successful year for Colorado Mountain Winefest

The Colorado Association for Viticulture & Enology (CAVE), is pleased to announce the success of the 31st Annual Colorado Mountain Winefest presented by Fisher's Liquor Barn! The festival took place Saturday, September 17th at Riverbend Park in Palisade, CO. Mountain Winefest is the premier event in the Grand Valley, with 2022 marking the 7th year that the festival was a sold-out event. 

This year, the Festival in the Park welcomed over 5,000 attendees from across the globe. Guests traveled from over 40 states and 7 countries to enjoy sips from over 40 Colorado Wineries, Cideries, and Meaderies as well as live music, artisan vendors, educational seminars, chef demonstrations, and more. 

Wine lovers throughout the state also enjoyed a wide range of wine-themed events during Colorado Wine Week. Colorado Wine Week took place from September 11-18, 2022 and was a celebration of the state's wine, wine producers, grape growers, and vineyards. On Sunday, September 11th, Governor Polis issued a proclamation that Colorado Wine Week be officially recognized throughout the state. Colorado Wine Week featured over 25 events that were hosted by participating wineries, restaurants, and small businesses across the Western Slope and the Front Range. 

"We are thrilled by the outcome of this year's festival and by the official recognition of Colorado Wine Week by Governor Polis," said CAVE Executive Director, Cassidee Shull. "It truly shows the value of our state's wine industry and agritourism and shows what a fantastic job our wineries and grape growers are doing."

Colorado Mountain Winefest is the state’s largest wine festival and is also the primary fundraiser for CAVE. All event proceeds go towards its annual VinCO Conference & Trade Show, which takes place each January in Grand Junction, CO. VinCO is focused on improving winemaking and grape growing in Colorado by bringing together top experts in enology, viticulture, and business. 

The 32nd Annual Colorado Mountain Winefest will take place in Palisade, CO on September 16, 2023. Tickets will be available for purchase later this fall. Colorado Wine Week will take place September 10-17, 2023.

For more information about Colorado Mountain Winefest and Colorado Wine Week, please visit www.ColoradoWinefest.com.

Tenor Eric Ferring Releases No Choice But Love: Songs of the LGBTQ+ Community

On Friday, November 18, 2022, American tenor Eric Ferring, known internationally for being “powerful and direct… while conveying a range of conflicting emotions with distinction and subtlety” (BachTrack), releases No Choice but Love: Songs of the LGBTQ+ Community with pianist Madeline Slettedahl on Lexicon Classics. The two-CD length album seeks to highlight diverse LGBTQIA+ voices and perspectives, through revelatory performances of important songs by some of today’s leading composers, including the world premiere recording of Ben Moore’s Love Remained in a new version for tenor, and the commissioned title work, No Choice but Love; Manuel de Falla’s Preludios and Oración de las madres que tienen a sus hijos en brazos; Jake Heggie’s Friendly Persuasions; Poulenc’s Tel jour, telle nuit; Ethel Smyth’s On the Road; Jennifer Higdon’s Lilacs; the world premiere recordings of Willie Alexander III’s Sure On This Shining Night and Mari Esabel Valverde’s To digte af Tove Ditlevsen; Benjamin Britten’s Canticle I; and Ricky Ian Gordon’s Prayer and Joy. Ferring performs a recital of these works at his alma mater, Drake University, as part of their acclaimed Jordan Concert Series on October 14, 2022.

Ferring expresses, “As members of that community, Madeline and I wanted to pay homage to the beautiful, difficult history of the LGBT+ community within the classical music world by featuring the many talented living and passed LGBT+ composers. We believe that music is a means of expression, an alternative lens through which to interpret reality, and a healing force. We know that we must use our voices to be advocates for those whose voices are ignored or can’t be heard. We as artists must utilize our gifts to be catalysts for change, empowering our networks, and inspiring them to do what they never thought possible.”

The album opens with Ben Moore’s (b. 1960) song cycle, Love Remained (2011). The first song includes selections from a 2010 speech by Fort Worth city councilman Joel Burns, in which he came out publicly to his community, followed by Moore’s interpretation of the love Randy Robert Potts had as a child for his late gay uncle, Ronald Roberts, son of American television evangelist Oral Roberts. For the third song, baritone Michael Kelly, the cycle’s dedicatee and first performer, contributed a poem about coming out to his brother. Ben Moore’s final song excerpts Harvey Milk’s now-legendary 1978 “Hope Speech” to create a piece with an anthemic quality. Moore says, “Milk was like the Martin Luther King of the gay-rights movement. I wanted something to honor him, juxtaposed with the passion of the speech.”     

Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) was a closeted gay man, who exiled himself to Argentina in 1939. “His two songs on this album express sentiments common to parents everywhere, hoping to create a more universal dialogue between parents and their children,” says Roger Pines in the liner notes. In Preludios (1900), Falla sets a mother-daughter dialogue by Antonio de Trueba. Oración de la madres que tienen sus hijos en brazos (Prayer of the mothers who hold their sons in their arms) (1914) is described by Pines as “deceptively soothing, given the desperation of the mother imploring Jesus not to let her son become a soldier.”

Jake Heggie’s Friendly Persuasions: Homage to Poulenc (2008) uses texts by Gene Scheer, highlighting friendships between Poulenc and four close friends. Pines says, “The first song presents a dialogue based on correspondence between Poulenc and harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, as she impatiently awaits the new concerto he’s writing for her. Her urging that he explore his true feelings in his music leads Poulenc to confess his longing for ‘Richard’ (presumably painter Richard Chanlaire, Poulenc’s lover in the late 1920s).” The second song tells the story of when Poulenc’s recital partner, baritone Pierre Bernac, disliked a holiday song he had written, so he threw it into the fire. Heggie next shares the story of Raymonde Linossier, a young woman to whom Poulenc proposed marriage but died at only 32. The fourth and concluding song finds Poulenc “at home during wartime, playing his own songs for Surrealist poet Paul Eluard, whose friendship Poulenc considered true brotherly love,” says Pines. 

Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) was a prolific composer, and although he was troubled by life as a gay man, “he remained a central figure in the world of gay writers, composers, and theatrical figures “who galvanized the Parisian cultural scene.” (Pines) Poulenc’s nine-song cycle, Tel jour, telle nuit (1937), emerged directly from the true story of him destroying the song manuscript when Bernac didn’t like it, and then whispered the words, “Tel jour telle nuit” (“As the day, so the night”). Poulenc used nine poems by Paul Eluard, largely inspired by Eluard’s second wife. 

Pines says, “Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944) triumphed over prevailing skepticism – not to say scorn – regarding female composers. Smyth produced much-admired songs, operas, chamber music, and large-scale orchestral works. The fervency of her commitment to music was matched by the passion of her romantic attachments to numerous other women, and also by her dedication to women’s suffrage, which led on one occasion to her arrest and two months in prison. Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, a zealous feminist and anti-Fascist activist, contributed the text for Smyth’s On the Road (1913).”

Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962) is one of today’s most successful American composers and a member of the LGBTQ community. She took the text of Lilacs (2014) from Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” which published in 1865, shortly after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, and mourns the president without actually mentioning his name. 

Willie Lee Alexander III’s (b. 1992) music is inspired by his experience as a gay African-Mexican-American man. As co-composer and consultant, Alexander recently worked on two new operas presented by Kanye West in collaboration with The Sunday Service Collective and co-created the music for Kim Kardashian’s Skims fashion show for 2020 New York Fashion Week. Pines shares, “The ten lines of text in Sure on This Shining Night (2021) present a portion of James Agee’s eleven-verse poem, ‘Description of Elysium’ (1934)... Alexander imagines ‘an older man walking through the woods at night and remembering the life he’s lived – both the hardest points and the triumphant ones.’”

Works by Mexican-American transgender composer Mari Esabel Valverde (b. 1987) is a multilingual singer and music educator, as well as a frequent speaker on social-justice issues. To Digte af Tove Ditlevsen (2010) sets two poems by the distinguished Danish writer who – after an exceedingly turbulent life affected by drugs, alcohol, four failed marriages, and troubled mental health – died by suicide at age 58 in 1976. Valverde calls these poems “brutally honest.” 

Benjamin Britten’s (1913–1976) five deeply spiritual Canticles celebrate the expressive possibilities in the singing of tenor Peter Pears, Britten’s life partner. Of Canticle I featured on this album, Pines says, “Although the work’s homosexual content has been the subject of debate, it does ultimately seem as close as anything in Britten’s oeuvre to a public declaration of his love for Pears.”

Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956) noted in an interview for The Journal of Singing that “poetry is the deepest way I order my universe…when I set poems to music, it’s almost like I’m healing a rift in myself.” Written for soprano Harolyn Blackwell, Gordon’s ten-song cycle Genius Child (1993) uses texts by Langston Hughes to exhibit a vast range of emotion.

Ferring and Slettedahl close the double album with its title track, No Choice but Love, which Ferring commissioned from Ben Moore in 2021. Ferring sent the composer a poem by a fellow tenor and close friend, Jamaican-American Terrence Chin-Loy. Pines describes, “Immediately attracted to the poem, Moore first did an oral reading for Chin-Loy to confirm that his own interpretation connected completely with the poet’s intention. Moore saw that Chin-Loy was strongly rebuking ‘everything that is designed to beat down gay people, and the feeling that LGBTQ+ love is somehow unnatural. Like every other gay person I’ve ever met, I was given negative messages when I was young. It’s a process to fully accept yourself and see that what we are is natural. Nor is it a choice – it’s based in love.’” Moore worked to give the song “a cosmic feel” and says, “the speaker reflects on the people who came before and made our current freedoms possible. ‘We have no choice but love’ – Terrence celebrates that this hugely positive truth is how the world is meant to be.’” 

MAP's State of Democracy Series: Spotlight on Florida

With the midterm primary season coming to a close and focus shifting to the November general election, Movement Advancement Project (MAP) is kicking off its State of Democracy Spotlight Series which will profile a different state each week. This series will provide an overview of the current voting landscape, key issues that are coming up in that state, and why it matters for the overall state of democracy in this country. These spotlights will outline policies that will impact what voting may look like in a number of battleground states and will provide overviews of how voting and election laws have changed since the 2020 election, for better or for worse.

▸▸ How Florida Compares to Other States on Voting and Election Policies Florida ranks 31st in the nation in our Democracy Tally for its voting, election, and democracy policies. The Democracy Maps track 45 laws and policies for each state, which inform this tally.

Despite the rhetoric of leaders in the state, Florida actually ranks in the Democracy Map’s highest category for election security with a number of important protections. For example, Florida already has a number of policies in place that ensure true election security, such as independent, non-partisan post-election audits and secure voting machines that utilize hand-marked paper ballots. Additional key policies that Florida already has in place to ensure secure elections are ballot tracking for mail voting and absentee ballot verification via signature verification. Florida could go even further in ensuring true election security by implementing another kind of nonpartisan audit called a risk-limiting audit. Twelve other states — including Indiana, Georgia, and Ohio — already use this kind of independent audit to verify the accuracy of election results. Two of the categories where Florida ranks among the lowest nationwide are its election independence & integrity policies and its policies for voting in person. For example, Florida is one of only eight states that allows the state legislature to interfere in elections, which increases the danger of election subversion and the potential to override the will of the voters. Under a law implemented last year, the state legislature has a concerning amount of power over election-related litigation. Ensuring that every eligible voter is able to vote is of course a core tenet of free and fair elections in a democracy. That starts with voter registration — and automatic voter registration is a policy to ensure this. Twenty-two states have some form of automatic voter registration, including Georgia, Michigan, and West Virginia. In fact, automatic voter registration helps increase voter turnout while also improving election security. (See our full report on automatic voter registration.)   ▸▸ False Narratives of Voter Fraud Led to Politically Motivated Prosecutions in Florida The heightened climate around supposed voter fraud has resulted in politically motivated prosecutions of voters. In 2018, Florida voters passed Amendment 4, an initiative that was intended to restore voting rights to people with prior felony convictions. Following the initiative’s passage, state lawmakers interfered with its implementation by enacting complex administrative requirements for rights restoration which resulted in widespread confusion and lack of a clear process. (Florida is one of 11 states that requires additional action to restore voting rights to someone with a prior felony conviction.) Since then, several people who thought their voting rights had been restored and who were told by local elections officials that they were eligible to vote have been charged with crimes for trying to vote. They now face penalties of up to five years in prison. These prosecutions appear to have been politically motivated and originated from the state’s newly created Office of Election Crimes and were erroneously touted by the governor in a press conference as supposed proof of voter fraud.   ▸▸ Voting, Especially Mail Voting, in Florida Has Become More Difficult Since 2020 Under the guise of addressing voter fraud, Florida has passed multiple laws restricting mail voting. Among these restrictions are severe limits on ballot drop boxes, harsh criminal penalties for assisting with ballot return, and strict requirements for identification related to mail voting. Ballot drop boxes, despite being a popular and secure option utilized by many voters in the 2020 election, have become a target of election conspiracies. Florida politicians seized upon these false narratives to implement severe limits on drop boxes which require they be located inside election offices and only available during early voting hours. Similar restrictions in Georgia led to a substantial decline in the use of drop boxes in 2021. (See our policy brief on the battle over ballot drop boxes for more information.) The state legislature also implemented new ID requirements for mail voting; voters are now required to provide a driver’s license or social security number to request a vote by mail ballot. Voters who do not have this information in their voter registration file may be unable to vote by mail. Democrats in the state have said these new requirements will disproportionately impact voters of color who are less likely to have this information on file. Finally, harsh new limits on ballot collection, and resulting felony criminal penalties, have imposed a chilling effect on get out the vote efforts, according to advocates. The state now restricts ballot collection limits to possessing no more than two ballots, and violating the law is a felony. ▸▸ Bottom Line: Florida in the 2022 Midterm Elections As has been the case for the past two decades, Florida will continue to be under the spotlight in terms of elections. The governor and legislature have continued to push false narratives of election fraud and use these false narratives as a justification to enact new restrictions on voting. This is despite the fact that Florida already has strong election security laws. The new laws enacted in Florida since the 2020 election do nothing to actually improve election security, but rather suppress votes and weaken the independence and integrity of the state’s democracy.

Follow @DemocracyMaps on Twitter and Medium

Mothé - photobooth

 

Mothé shares the video for their new single, photobooth. Filmed on location in Los Angeles, the clip was directed by Derek Rathbun. 

Experience the Magic of Dance at Marjorie Park

MOA is pleased to present David Taylor's Zikr Dance Ensemble at Marjorie Park on October 6th for a very special premiere performance of "Portals." This production is a new visionary work that explores the hidden realms of dance ritual throughout world history and features stunning new sets, costumes and visual effects.

Have a picnic and make a night of it! Bites from Tula's Tapas and beverages will be available.

EPA announces $121 million in historic federal funding to Colorado for clean watersheds and drinking water

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded $121 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to Colorado for water infrastructure improvements.

President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) allocates more than $50 billion to EPA toward repairing the nation’s essential water infrastructure, which helps communities access clean, safe and reliable drinking water, increase resilience, collect and treat wastewater to protect public health, clean up pollution and safeguard vital waterways. The grant marks the first significant distribution of water infrastructure funds thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. State allocations were previously announced.  

 “All communities need access to clean, reliable, safe water,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Thanks to President Biden’s leadership and the resources from the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are repairing aging water infrastructure, replacing lead service lines, cleaning up contaminants, and making our communities more resilient in the face of floods and climate impacts.”

“President Biden has been clear—we cannot leave any community behind as we rebuild America’s infrastructure with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu.  “Because of his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, nearly half of the additional SRF funding will now be grants or forgivable loans, making accessing these critical water resources easier for small, rural and disadvantaged communities.”

“This Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding will support unprecedented investments in wastewater treatment and drinking water infrastructure Colorado’s communities,” said EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker. “These projects will create jobs and modernize and extend the water systems that keep our rivers clean and our water safe to drink in every corner of the state.”

 

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing critical investments to increase Coloradans’ access to clean drinking water and upgrade water infrastructure in communities that have historically been overlooked,” said U.S. Senator Michael Bennet. “Everyone deserves access to clean, safe drinking water and I am glad to see this additional funding coming to the state.”

“The benefits from our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law keep flowing! Everyone deserves clean water and this funding will make critical upgrades to Colorado’s water systems,” said U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper.

 

“This is a big win for our community,” said Congresswoman Diana DeGette. “These grants will help fund significant improvement to help ensure everyone in our community has access to the safe, clean drinking water they need.”

“During a time of historic drought in Colorado and across the west, the money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is crucial in improving our water infrastructure,” said Congressman Ed Perlmutter. “This investment will provide significant benefits to communities across our state and improve access to one of our most critical natural resources.”

 

“Every American should have access to clean, potable water,” said Congressman Jason Crow. “This critical investment will both modernize our water infrastructure and protect vital waterways in Colorado. I’m proud to have helped deliver this funding with my vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”

"CDPHE is leveraging our strong community partnerships to ensure that this funding will protect Colorado's precious waterways and provide access to clean water for decades to come," said Nicole Rowan, Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Water Quality Control Division.

EPA’s SRFs are part of President Biden’s Justice40 initiative, which aims to deliver at least 40% of the benefits from certain federal programs flow to underserved communities. Furthermore, nearly half the funding available through the SRFs thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law must be grants or principal forgiveness loans that remove barriers to investing in essential water infrastructure in underserved communities across rural America and in urban centers.

Funding announced today represents FY22 awards for states that have submitted and obtained EPA’s approval of their plans for use of the funding. Capitalization grants will continue to be awarded, on a rolling state-by-state basis, as more states receive approval throughout FY22; states will also receive awards over the course of the next four years. As grants are awarded, the state SRF programs can begin to distribute the funds as grants and loans to communities across their state.

 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law presents the largest ever funding opportunity for investing in water infrastructure. Find out more about Bipartisan Infrastructure Law programs and other programs that help communities manage their water at www.epa.gov/infrastructure.

Carly Rae Jepsen - Talking to Yourself

Today, GRAMMY-, Juno- and Polaris Prize-nominated singer/songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen releases the infectious new single “Talking To Yourself” from her forthcoming album The Loneliest Time.  “Talking To Yourself” is available now at all digital retailers.  Watch the official visualizer for “Talking ToYourself”.

 Produced by Captain Cuts, and co-written by Jepsen, Ryan Rabin, Benjamin Berger, and Simon Wilcox, “Talking To Myself” follows the release of “Beach House” and “Western Wind.” All  three songs will be featured on Jepsen’s fifth studio album The Loneliest Time, set for release October 21 on  604/Schoolboy/Interscope Records. The Loneliest Time is available for pre-order.

 Jepsen will give fans a taste of the new album when she hits the road next week on The So Nice Tour, kicking off in Cleveland, OH.  For a complete list of tour dates, and to purchase tickets, visit  www.carlyraemusic.com/tour

20th Digital Studio’s BITE SIZE HALLOWEEN on Hulu Brings 20 Spooky Shorts from Diverse, Emerging Filmmakers

In celebration of Huluween, 20th Digital Studio’s Bite Size Halloween series of spooky shorts is back for a third season! Twenty new shorts from exciting emerging filmmakers premiere October 1 on Hulu, blending genres like horror, comedy, sci-fi, thriller, and more. 

Shot in seven different countries, this season takes on topical issues such as racism, gender, parenthood, sexuality, and identity. SNATCHED (dir. Michael Schwartz) features Tatiana Maslany (“She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law”) in her first on-screen role with husband Brendan Hines (“Locke & Key”). Misha Osherovich (“Freaky”) stars as their son.

Other shorts feature familiar faces like Brigette Lundy-Paine (“Atypical”), Lin Shaye (“Insidious”), David Costabile (“Breaking Bad”), and former “Glow” co-stars Rebekka Johnson and singer-songwriter Kate Nash who co-wrote/directed/star in a short featuring Nash’s original music. 

David Worthen Brooks, SVP 20th Digital Studio commented:  “As we launch the first feature films developed with our incredibly talented Bite Size Halloween filmmaker alums, we are thrilled to introduce the next wave of dynamic filmmaking talent and their ingenious short films. We take great pride in showcasing these vital, diverse voices and their very personal twists on horror, thriller and sci-fi.”

The goal of 20th Digital Studio’s short film programs is to continue to guide and finance the growth of these artists’ careers and to transition some of the shorts into longer features. The first two films developed in this way will premiere this month on Hulu: “Grimcutty” from John William Ross on Oct. 10 and “Matriarch” from Ben Steiner on Oct. 21. Shorts from past seasons have played at festivals such as SXSW, Sundance, Tribeca, Fantasia, and more.

20th Digital Studio’s focus on diversity and inclusion continues as prestigious filmmakers from the festival world are featured, including Nuhash Humayun (“Moshari,” SXSW Grand Jury Prize), Sam Max (“Chaperone,” Sundance), Michelle Krusiec (“Bite,” AFI DWW), Zoey Martinson (“Cupids,” Tribeca), and many more. 

Gay Help Wanted: One Colorado is Hiring!

One Colorado is hiring! Are you an expert in the field of Health Equity? Are you passionate about LGBTQ+ youth? Join the OneCO team! Check out the open positions, and apply by October 8th.

The Human Rights Campaign and One Colorado Host Event to Mobilize Voters for Pro-Equality Candidates in 2022 Midterm Elections

On Saturday, September 17 from 12-2 PM MDT at The Wardian in Lakewood, CO, the Human Rights Campaign and One Colorado – leading national and local LGBTQ+ organizations – will host a major campaign kick-off event to mobilize voters for pro-equality candidates in the 2022 midterm elections this November.

The event will include remarks from HRC-endorsed candidates U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, local nonprofit leaders and activists about extremist politicians’ escalated attacked on LGBTQ+ people and how Coloradans can support pro-equality, pro-choice, and pro-democracy candidates up and down the ballot through voter registration efforts in their communities, canvassing opportunities, and more.

Ellen Show’s Kalen Allen teams up with Ricki Lake for New Podcast Series "Raised By Ricki"

Kalen Allen, best known for his “Kalen Reacts” videos and role as correspondent on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, is teaming up with Ricki Lake for the all new podcast "Raised by Ricki," launching on 9/15.

On this series, Ricki and Kalen return to Ricki’s eponymous talk show for a cultural reexamination of the series, its guests, and topics – unpacking how these themes were covered in the 90s and what kind of impact they had on culture back then, with a fresh and modern lens.

Are You Gay With Something To Say? Bloggers Wanted to Write About Denver's Gay Community

Are you a new or experienced writer or blogger? Do you want to be? Or maybe you're just some gay guy with something to say? Well, what better forum for you than MileHighGayGuy?

MileHighGayGuy is looking for regular and guest bloggers to write about local news and events, do music and movie reviews, or write opinion or feature pieces from a gay perspective.

These are unpaid positions but offer the opportunity to be published in Colorado's Best Gay Blog (2010, 2011, 2012 OUTstanding Awards, Denver 2012 #WebAwards), expand your audience and gain valuable experience. There's also swag available in the form of free movie and concert tickets, music, books and other cool stuff.

If interested, shoot an email over to Drew Wilson at drew@milehighgayguy.com. And if you've got column or story ideas to pitch, this is the place to do it.

New Poll: Two-Thirds of Likely Voters in Battleground States Support Marriage Equality

New polling released today by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization — shows that about two-thirds (64%) of likely voters in 2022 battleground states – Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – support a law “protecting the national right to same-sex marriage.” The polling results are consistent with numbers seen throughout this year indicating that a strong majority of the public is in favor of allowing LGBTQ+ people to marry those they love.

Majority support for marriage equality was also seen across subgroups in the polling, including among men (58%), women (69%) and Christians (55%).

“Marriage equality has been nothing but positive, both for the LGBTQ+ community and for our society as a whole – and that’s reflected in this polling,” said Joni Madison, Human Rights Campaign Interim President. “Same-sex marriage has been legal nationally since 2015, and in many states for years before that. The joy that has emanated from thousands of weddings of couples who were previously denied the right to marry has melted many hearts. And the supposed harms that opponents of marriage equality predicted simply have not come to pass. Despite this, in the aftermath of the Dobbs ruling, many couples fear for the future of marriage equality. That’s why it is more important than ever to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, and reflect the voice of the 71% of Americans nationwide who support marriage equality..”

The poll showed no significant difference in support for marriage equality based on race and ethnicity. Its results are in line with previous polls conducted by other organizations this year, including a Gallup poll in June that showed that 71% of Americans support same-sex marriage, a new high-water mark.

As Gov. DeSantis and Extremist Politicians in FL Escalate Attacks on Equality, the HRC Endorses Rep. Charlie Crist for Governor of FL and Scales Efforts to Mobilize Voters

As millions of Americans across Florida are being targeted by Gov. Ron DeSantis and extremist anti-equality judges and politicians trying to strip away the rights of LGBTQ+ people, women, and people of color, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) PAC today announced its endorsement of former Rep. Charlie Crist for Governor of Florida at a rally in Wilton Manors. The HRC PAC also announced major efforts to mobilize millions of voters in support of pro-equality, pro-choice, and pro-democracy candidates across the state.

HRC PAC endorsed six LGBTQ+ candidates for the Florida state legislature: Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (HD-37), Rep. Michele Rayner (HD-62), Adam Gentle (HD-120), Eunic Ortiz (SD-18), Janelle Perez (SD-38), and Sen. Shevrin Jones (SD-34) last week. HRC PAC endorsed Val Demings of Florida for U.S. Senate earlier this year.

HRC’s election program will mobilize more than 2 million “Equality Voters” in Florida for whom LGBTQ+ equality is a make-or-break issue through volunteer canvassing, phone banking, and voter registration drives, among other efforts.