Denver is the Mile High City, the Queen City of the Plains, and the Gateway to the West. Lying at the base of the Colorado Rockies, the river confluence that became Denver in 1858 has long been a crossroads, first for Indigenous peoples, then joined in the 19th century by trappers, explorers, miners, and cowboys. Today, the city attracts thousands of new residents each year, including LGBTQ people from the rural West and digital nomads from around the nation seeking a welcoming community where they can thrive. A half century ago, it took a different sort of pioneer to challenge Denver's prevailing social and moral status quo and open doors for LGBTQ people to achieve greater freedom and opportunity, eventually achieving historic milestones locally and nationally. LGBTQ Denver showcases how the city evolved from its pre-1970s history of rebuking gay people to a magnet for LGBTQ residents and the capital of the first state to elect and, four years later, overwhelmingly reelect the nation's first openly gay governor. Phil Nash has called Denver home since 1976, and here he helped found and later became the first director of the Gay Community Center of Colorado. When AIDS reached Colorado in the early 1980s, he helped found and chaired the Colorado AIDS Project. In the early 1990s, he served as an openly gay appointee in Federico Peña's mayoral administration and later held senior communications roles at several civic and philanthropic organizations.

The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all.