President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025 — the day after Aspen Gay Ski Week ended.
In the past year, he has issued several executive orders that have rolled back protections for the LGBTQ+ community, including banning gender-affirming care for minors and cutting grants for LGBTQ+ research.
He has also directed the State Department to stop issuing federal identification documents with gender markers that do not conform to his administration’s new binary definitions of male and female.
Roaring Fork Valley locals Damien Williamson and Pete Bellande said that despite these attacks on the queer community, they want to continue supporting their LGBTQ+ neighbors.
Bellande, a Carbondale resident, said he recognizes that as gay men in a wealthy, liberal area of the country, they are privileged. He wants to show up for those who do not have the same luxuries as him.
“Finding community in these moments of hardship, we can live awesome lives despite all of this,” he said Wednesday at the Limelight Hotel, the headquarters for Aspen Gay Ski Week.
Williamson, who lives in Aspen, said he has seen more people around the world showing up to celebrate LGBTQ+ events this year — not just in Aspen this week.
“Being at gay events around the country and the world, I'm seeing people [attend] more, in spite of the current political climate,” he said.
Trump has also increased tariffs on other countries and imposed travel bans on a growing list of countries, limiting the number of potential international visitors.
Bellande said he has noticed some changes at this year’s celebration as a result. Luxury international brands that have historically sent staff to the event and donated their products to attendees are not present this year.
“I think a lot of international travelers are hesitant to come here,” he said. “That's the thing I've heard for this, for Burning Man.”
Bellande said that despite the changes, energy is just as high as any other year, as the LGBTQ+ community comes together in the face of adversity.
AspenOUT, the nonprofit that organizes Aspen Gay Ski Week, said attendance is on par with previous years.
