Denver’s PrideFest shifts attitudes as more families attend events

Among this weekend’s Denver PrideFest – a two-day celebration of the GLBT community – were hundreds of children. One girl, 6, came with her father, who said he hoped the free-loving atmosphere would teach her to be accepting of all lifestyles. “To me, she should be at events like this just to support (the idea that) we’re all the same,” her father said. Others, like a 7-year-old came with lesbian parents celebrating their own lives and advances in gay rights. Almost a third of the homosexual couples living in Denver have children, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Organizers for the festival don’t track the number of families attending but say they’ve seen a noticeable rise over the past four or five years, since they added a Family Fun Day. “Increasingly, children are growing up asking ‘What’s the big deal?’ ” said Glenda Russell, a staff psychologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who was interviewed before the event.

[via The Denver Post; Photo: Leah Millis, The Denver Post]