Ted Trimpa: How one gay activist changed Colorado and anation

Ted Trimpa on Aug. 22 will be honored by One Colorado, the state's largest advocacy organizationfor gay and transgender rights. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

Ted Trimpa stewed inside a Denver bar in 1996, lamenting how he had failed miserably in trackingdown a wealthy gay philanthropist for a donation to Democrat Tom Strickland's U.S. Senatecampaign.

The bartender informed Trimpa that the man he was looking for, Tim Gill, happened to be in thecourtyard attending a party. Trimpa pulled a chair near the men's room and waited.

Eventually, Gill came around the corner, only to find the 29-year-old Trimpa, who made his pitch:Republican Wayne Allard doesn't believe in gay rights. Strickland needs your help.

"You're crashing my birthday party," an annoyed Gill responded several times.

Trimpa would later lament to a mutual friend that Gill "hated" him, only to be told, "I think the wordis 'despise.' "

But eventually the two gay activists joined forces and changed the political landscape not only inColorado but also across the country. They convinced wealthy donors, straight and gay, to targetlegislative candidates who were trying to ban same-sex marriage in their states.

In a time period they could not have imagined, the U.S. Supreme Court in June issued a decision thatlegalized same-sex marriage.

Trimpa on Aug. 22 will be honored with a lifetime achievement award by One Colorado, the state'slargest advocacy organization for gay and transgender rights. Trimpa's close friend, KathleenSebelius, the former U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, is adjusting her vacation to makethe presentation to him.

"They're big drinking buddies," Gill said, with a laugh.

Bright strategic mind

Gill called Trimpa one of the "brightest strategic minds in the entire gay movement."

"We went from being this kind of passive 'Oh, let's give money to people because they're good on gayissues' to 'Let's actually do something that makes a change,' " Gill said.

It's all heady stuff for Trimpa, a southwest Kansas native who grew up on a wheat farm in a drycounty knowing he was different than his 19 classmates but not sure why. He subscribed to TheEconomist and The Atlantic, a magazine that later would describe Trimpa as "the Karl Rove ofColorado." Trimpa loved classical music, debate and theater.

"Ding, ding, ding, gay!" he says now.

But he didn't realize it until 1991 during his second semester at the University of Denver law schoolafter a sexual encounter with a man. After that, he embraced his sexual orientation.

"I had the rainbow necklaces and the shirts," Trimpa said. "I was Mr. Loud Gay."

When a family member spilled the beans to Trimpa's grandmother, she quit paying for his lawschool. Trimpa switched to night school and scrambled to find a job to support himself. Thateventually led him to the state Capitol and two well-known lobbyists: Frank "Pancho" Hayes andWalley Stealey.

Trimpa, who was desperate for work, told Hayes he'd be willing to work for the devil. Hayes had aclient in mind.

"'It's the Tobacco Institute," he said.

And that's how Trimpa became the face of a fight against a 50-cents-a-pack cigarette tax increase,which in 1994 was the most expensive ballot measure in Colorado history. Trimpa made enemieswhen he filed open-records requests with the state health department and found evidence that stateand federal funds were being used to support the tax initiative.

The measure failed 61 percent to 39 percent.

Behind the scenes

A decade later, Trimpa played a behind-the-scenes role in helping Democrats pull off what wasdeemed impossible. Gill joined with labor and three wealthy Coloradans, including Boulderentrepreneur Jared Polis, to bankroll the successful takeover of the Colorado legislature, a feat lastachieved in the 1960 election.

One year later, in 2005, Trimpa again worked behind the scenes, for the passage of hate-crimeslegislation. The front-page story of Republican Gov. Bill Owens signing it into law is framed andhanging in his 10th-floor downtown Denver office.

When the 2nd Congressional District seat opened up in 2008, Trimpa surprised some his friendswhen he backed former state Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald of Jefferson County over Polis. Poliswent on to become the first openly gay person to be elected to Congress.

"Ted understood that I had worked for the causes that were so near and dear to his heart in adistrict that was not overwhelmingly liberal or Democratic," Fitz-Gerald said. "I certainly believe hedeserves a lifetime achievement award -- although he is pretty young -- because he is one of thosepeople who makes government work."

Trimpa and Polis were later allies on various issues. As a result, Trimpa in 2014 played a role in thefracking deal Gov. John Hickenlooper engineered. Polis agreed to pull ballot measures he fundedthat were aimed at the oil and gas industry and critics deemed harmful to the economy.

In the cross hairs

Trimpa lobbies for two oil and gas companies, a move that put him in the cross hairs of someenvironmental groups with which he normally is aligned.

"I had to say, 'Just because we're on the left doesn't mean the oil and gas companies don't have apoint,' " Trimpa said. "Because they do. We're not going to have, anytime soon, a world without fossilfuels."

When the Supreme Court ruling on marriage came out June 26, Trimpa read every word of thedecision. Then he listened to President Barack Obama's highly praised eulogy in Charleston, S.C., fora slain pastor, one of nine killed inside a church simply because they were black.

"It hit me a lot harder than I thought it would," Trimpa said of the day's events.

And that's why, on the spur of the moment, Trimpa decided to take his boyfriend, Arash Mosaleh, aproducer at KDVR-Channel 31, to New York that weekend for its Gay Pride Parade. In front ofStonewall Inn, the birthplace of the gay rights revolution, Trimpa did something he never dreamed

was possible when he started down the road to equality.

He got down on one knee and proposed.

Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels

One Colorado Ally awards

Date: Aug. 22

Time: 7:30 to 10 p.m. (Doors open at 6:45 p.m.)

Site: Four Seasons Hotel Denver, 1111 14th St.

The annual event honors gay and straight allies who advance equality and who make substantivedifferences in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Coloradans.

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