Aspen Gay Ski Week concluded its 48th year on Sunday, just before President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
The annual celebration was started by a group of local men in an effort to “meet guys” while discussing “politics, pride and civil rights” in the 1970s.
Two decades later, the Aspen Gay Ski Week was incorporated as the Aspen Gay and Lesbian Community Fund, now known as AspenOUT.
It took almost another three decades for Aspen Gay Ski Week to begin marketing for more womxn involvement. This year’s celebration was known as “the year of the womxn.”
On Thursday, Courtney Monroe, a first time Aspen Gay Ski Week attendee from Missouri, wondered if “the year of the womxn” was associated with the returning Trump administration.
“I think there’s a lot of concerns there as far as women’s rights and being a woman in this country,” she said at Hidalgo, the location of the first womxn-focused event. “I think we really need to push for more women’s rights. I think politics needs to stay out of women’s reproductive rights. As a healthcare provider I strongly believe that.”
However, AspenOUT President Melissa Temple said that planning for the next Aspen Gay Ski Week begins the day after the previous one ends. So, despite this year being called “the year of the womxn,” there has been a push in recent years to bring more women to the annual event.
For example, this year’s new Womxn’s Cocktail Hour at Hidalgo began years previously as a cocktail hour with Melissa, where she had to hand out tickets to get women to attend.
“Gay Ski Week appeals to men because of the socio-economic level, there’s a lot of wealthy gay men, actually there’s a lot of wealthy gay women now, which is good, so the intention is to mix it up, make it more fun, make it more inclusive,” Temple said.
Other women’s-focused features this year included the Womxn Pass, a deal for events like Hidalgo’s happy hour, the all women’s Friendship Dinner at Mollie Aspen, which was the “Womxn Headquarters” for the week, and a discussion called “Womxn in Business” on Saturday.
Temple has already started planning even more women-centered events for next year, but her thoughts are also on the new administration.
President Trump said in his inaugural address Monday he will sign an executive order proclaiming there are only two biological sexes.
AspenOUT says it will continue to support the transgender community and donate to legal and mental health resources.
And Monroe will continue her residency, potentially specializing in child and adolescent psychiatry, with a focus on trans youth and mental health.