Gay Guide to Telluride
Colorado has covered sexual orientation and gender identity in its civil rights law since 2008, added civil unions in 2013 and saw marriage arrive in October 2014. The road there ran through Amendment 2, the 1992 ballot measure that tried to wipe out every local gay rights law in the state until the Supreme Court struck it down in Romer v. Evans in 1996.
Telluride is an old mining town at the end of a box canyon in the San Juan Mountains, joined to the ski resort at Mountain Village by a free gondola. Telluride Gay Ski Week has run here since 2002 and is a smaller week than Aspen's, which is much of its appeal. The 2027 edition runs February 27 to March 6.
Recent weeks have included a ski parade, a gay sleigh ride, a hoedown, a white party, a glitter ball, a drag and burlesque show and a charity ski race for LGBTQ+ youth. Casual group skiing meets at the base of Lift 4, where rainbow flags mark the spot, and 2027 adds a tea dance at the Elks Lodge.
The week follows straight on from the Telluride AIDS Benefit, which has raised money for HIV prevention, education and sexual wellness since 1993 with a run of gala fashion shows each February. In 2027 the shows run February 25 to 27, and in 2026 the benefit's wrap party doubled as one of the first nights of Gay Ski Week.
Telluride is remote by design. Montrose Regional Airport, about an hour and a half away by road, handles most winter flights, and Telluride's own small airport sits on a mesa above town. Plan around the dates: these two weeks are when the queer crowd is in town.