The areas around Civic Center Park, the Capitol, and the historic Broadway Avenue were notorious as Denver’s red-light district. Having no separate or safe spaces in Denver, individuals who shared houses, or could not afford private rooms, used the areas around the state capitol building for sexual contacts. In 1960 the homosexual bar scene was just beginning to develop. Earlier in Denver’s history, as in other gay communities, sexual acts between men routinely took place in city parks or bathrooms.
