The “privatizing” of sexual acts-moving them away from free, outdoor spaces-made it more difficult for law enforcement agents to successfully entrap and harass homosexual men. Denver’s elite gay men hoped to move the national conversation on homosexuality away from sexual acts alone. They wanted to present homosexuality as a normal relationship between consenting adults. They aimed to disconnect homosexuality from notions of perversion and prostitution. In response to men’s sexual acts with men in public spaces, middle and upper class gay white men began to advocate for sexual encounters in private or semi-private spaces. 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.
