The event marked a major shift in behavior for the city’s gays and lesbians. What followed was what Gerash calls the Gay Revolt at Denver City Council where 350 protesters came to a City Council meeting, and 35 people testified for three hours. Denver, made public police records that showed 98 percent of people arrested that year for “offer of lewd conduct” were gay men. A 1973 lawsuit, Gay Coalition of Denver v. In 1973 Gerald Gerash and some friends established the Gay Coalition of Denver, which took on that police persecution. The Denver vice squad led by Captain Jerry Kennedy targeted the two populations. The 1970s were generally a dark time for Denver’s gay men and transgender women.
