Florida Agenda

By ROBERT ELIAS DEATON

There is one thing you can’t miss when you visit Denver. The great outdoors beckons not only you, but every other person in the town. Runners abound; bikers cruise by; hikers have their backpacks ready to climb; and all invited by air as crisp as the first bite of an apple. Denver is the capital of Colorado and a quick way to orientate yourself in the city is to go to Colorado State Capitol Building (200 E Colfax Ave.; 303-866-2604).

Climb to the Rotunda and glimpse a view of the 200 mountains visible from the dome. You’ll also get a visual on the layout of the city, which will help you when you take to the streets— and, yes, some alleys. Biking around town is made easy with the 850 miles of paved off-road trails.

The city has a great system of B-Cycles that allows you to rent a bike in one location and leave it on the street at any of the more than 50 drop stations. For more information on B-Cycles in Denver visit denver.org/what-to-do/ sports-recreation/denver-b-cycle-rides. While we’re the first to admit that the concept of bus tour leaves us cold and shivering, don’t let that stop you from booking aboard Banjo Billy’s Bus Tours.

The “bus” is more like a rolling hillbilly shack with couches, recliners and horse saddles to make anyone feel at home. The tales heard aboard Banjo Billy’s run the gamut from ghosts to prostitutes to gangsters long in heaven, so prepare yourself (banjobilly.com).

Despite its conservative reputation, Denver knows how to throw a party. We always start a fun night at Charlie’s Denver for its mix of gay and straight clientele (okay, mostly gay and mostly men, but hey, it’s a country-western party). There’s line dancing, karaoke, trivia contests, and pool parties— without a pool (gotta love it).

Charlie’s Denver is located in Capitol Hill (900 East Colfax Ave.). Boyztown Denver will be remembered by the old-timers as The Brig. It’s now a sexy, gay strip club with a cabaret element and more than a touch of the old-school about it. Translation: young twinks, old admirers, and lots of numbers and dollar bills going back and forth (117 Broadway). For the leather crowd, and those that like them, the Denver Eagle brings that tradition to life in an authentic, rough, and stud sort of way.

You’ll get more attention if you wear a harness or something that says you know your way around a set of wrist and ankle cuffs. The Eagle appreciates the nuance (1475 36th St.). For great music and let’s-break-a-sweat dancing, head directly to Compound (145 Broadway at W 2nd Ave). It used to be called Compound Basix, and then tried Compound Denver. Now, either a part of the sign fell off, or it’s just plan Compound.

Any way you call it, it’s a super friendly place with sexy, sexy bartenders. When it’s time to do something other than drink, think Racines (650 Sherman St.). It’s a classy joint that’s been round for decades, is gay owned, and is open until midnight most nights (which in Colorado time is akin to four a.m.) Love the omelets at Racines, washed down with the strongest margarita in town.

There’s a local outlet of Hamburger Mary’s Bar & Grill here as well. Located at 700 E 17th Ave., Mary’s has the best patio dining in town for lunch or dinner. While it serves the usual suspects in the form of burgers and wraps, the food is as fresh as the camp a la Denver.

By ROBERT ELIAS DEATON

Mention Denver, and everyone always has some story to tell. Like the time the city bid for the 1976 Winter Games, and then turned down the Games after winning the honor once they found out how much it would cost! (Innsbruck, Austria ended up hosting the Games.) Or how about the one that showcases Denver as “the pride of the Rockies,” even though the mountain chain ends just west of the city, which is actually located on the grassy plains. And then, of course, there was that ugly period in the 90s when Colorado passed Amendment 2, which allowed for discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation. Lesbians and gays got worked into a lather, along with quite a few straights, and got Amendment 2 overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court, but not before tourism went down the toilet and the state was judged the black hole of bigotry and injustice.

Well, we’re happy to report, things are quite a bit better today in Denver as well as other parts of Colorado, though Colorado Springs and its neighbors were hit by raging forest fires last month that are still not completely extinguished. Other than some blow-by smoke, Denver, Queen City of the West, was undamaged.

Your visit to Denver begins by landing in one the world’s most elegant and picturesque airports, Denver International. Because it has been built to handle future business, it always feels half full, which is a good thing, and allows you plenty of time to check the art and concourse restaurants and businesses.

When clearing security at Denver International always try to go through Terminal A. It’s the least crowded and all terminals are connected by a tram that zips you around the entire place in a few minutes.

Our favorite hotel in the city isn’t the largest, but simply the best. It’s the Brown Palace Hotel and Spa (321 17th Street), and, built in 1908, has one of this country’s first atrium designs. While the rooms are as-you’d-expect spectacular, it is the spa at the Brown that keeps us coming back.

The architecture of Denver International was designed to mimic the Rocky Mountains

We particularly like the Gentlemen’s Body Treatment Imagine, if you will, 50 minutes of Deep Tissue Massage followed by a half-hour full body sugar exfoliation. (It may cost $155, but when you’re finished, you’ll feel 20 years younger and want to move in.) The hotel is in the downtown area, near everything, including a gay bar–Denver Wrangler (1700 Logan Street), a cross between a cow palace, a bear barn, and a rodeo roundup. The slogan here is “Where Real Men Come to Drink.”

Just southeast of downtown is Cheesman Park where the annual gay pride parade begins. No surprise there, since it’s the “gayest” park in Denver and the neighborhood surrounding it is fabulous.

What will come as a shock to even locals is that the whole place used to be a cemetery whose location soon made the land more valuable than for what the plots could be sold. That’s what we love about Denver, a few snaps of the fingers and hundred dollar bills, and bodies were being transplanted and posies planted in their place.

While Cherry Creek is the most elegant neighborhood, the most fun section is definitely Stapleton. Located just east of downtown, where Stapleton Airport used to be, it’s been totally redeveloped by the gays, who renamed the place Gaypleton in their honor. That’s what happens when you take over the place.

Cheesman Park (the “gayest park in Denver”), the starting point of Denver’s gay pride parade

Next week, we’ll cover outdoor activities in the region, and the favorite secret spot in the whole city. Yes, you’ll have to wait.

DENVER, CO — the same day that President Obama endorsed same sex marriage, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced a special session for the state legislature to debate a civil unions bill that Republican lawmakers had stalled. Although the measure was defeated by House Republican leaders, who refused to allow it to come to a vote, Hickenlooper said that the matter was a “fundamental question of fairness and civil rights.”

Democrats plan to use the bill’s defeat in November in a bid to gain control of the House. “My family is the same as every one of yours,” said state Rep. Mark Ferrandino, the openly gay Democratic House Minority Leader and co-sponsor of the civil unions bill. Republicans hold a 33 to 32 seat majority in the House, and the GOP leadership has refused to allow floor debate on the civil unions bill, killing it twice through procedural measures.

In 2006, Colorado voters banned same sex marriage, but the civil unions legislation would grant similar rights as marriage, including hospital visitation and caretaking rights, along with greater latitude in inheritance and parental matters. President Obama—who delivered a commencement address yesterday at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs—carried Colorado and its nine electoral votes in 2008.

DENVER, CO – Researchers from University of Colorado Cancer Center say that gay men and women are nearly twice as likely to smoke cigarettes and other tobacco products as straight men and women.

The study looked at 1,633 smokers who answered questionnaires at nearly 130 gay bars, clubs, and venues, and found that most respondents (80.4%) smoke daily, and that nearly a third smoke 20 or more cigarettes each day. Fewer than half (47.2%) had attempted quitting in the previous year, and only 8.5% were preparing to quit in the next month.

A quarter of respondents said they were uncomfortable talking to their doctor about quitting smoking, and less than 30% said they were planning to quit. Lesbians were much less likely than gay men to have used or to intend to use nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).

The researchers, led by Dr. Arnold Levinson, the study’s co-author, said that four factors are involved in the likelihood that a smoker is going to quit: daily smoking, previous use of NRT, a smoke-free home rule, “and comfort asking one’s doctor for cessation advice.”

The study concludes: “A large minority of GLBT smokers was unlikely to seek cessation assistance through clinical encounters. Public health campaigns should focus on supporting motivation to quit and providing nonclinical access to evidence-based treatments.”

DENVER, CO

On November 1, a Federal Appeals Court indefinitely extended its freeze on a judge’s order halting enforcement of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the U.S. government’s request for a stay while it challenges the trials court’s ruling that the ban on openly gay service members is unconstitutional