Boulder not safe

The Rocky:

Amy Winchester and her partner, Marcy Mullet, recently celebrated the birthdays of their 1-year-old twins.

The couple couldn't help but feel somewhat uneasy that the city with a liberal and tolerant reputation isn't what it used to be, and they don't want their twins growing up in a community that they fear is increasingly becoming more homophobic and intolerant.

Boulder?

This week's beating of a 21-year-old lesbian student from Naropa University by at least one man did little to ease the couple's concerns.

Boulder police are trying to determine whether the attack was a hate crime that was triggered by the woman resisting the sexual advances of two men and telling them she was a lesbian. One of the men beat and kicked the woman in the head, police said.

They don't even know if it was a "hate crime" yet, but the mere possibility brought out several hundred protesters:

Winchester and Mullet and their children joined more than 300 people Friday in a march to denounce the attack - and show their support for the victim - outside Boulder's municipal building.

Boulder's turning fascist, all right.

The woman was beaten near the area of Canyon Boulevard and 13th Street, just a couple of blocks from where the rally was held.

"It was maybe like that 20 or 30 years ago," Winchester, 30, said of Boulder's liberal reputation, as she held her daughter, Sami. "This is really shocking, and this gives us an opportunity to show support for the victim and the community as a whole. I want to live where I feel safe and be accepted for who I am." . . .

"We need to let people know that it's not OK" to attack gays or lesbians, said Mullet, as she carried her son, Kai. "And we're just not going to sit down and take it."

Winchester & Mullet. I feel a TV pilot coming on.

The demonstrators, carrying signs and sporting rainbow ribbons representing the colors of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, began their march from the Boulder Pride community center in the 2100 block of 14th Street, near the Pearl Street Mall. They proceeded through Central Park and under the Broadway Bridge at Boulder Creek before gathering behind the municipal building.

No giant puppets on such short notice, of course, but:

A few demonstrators pounded out conga and bongo rhythms for the marchers, who responded with cheers . . .

. . . rather than with the forced bongoectomy most protest drummers deserve. It's okay sometimes, but man, some of those freaks don't know when to shut up.

Some carried signs reading, "Stop Pretending Boulder is Safe" [okay!--ed.], "Yes on Domestic Partnerships," "We're Here, We're Queer, We Care," "Hate is Socially Learned" and "We're All Children of God."

Hate is socially learned. I've always hated that.

"This is not acceptable," said Blake Weber, Boulder Pride's new executive director, to the demonstrators, who responded with shouts of approval. "This is not acceptable in Boulder. This is not acceptable in Colorado and this not acceptable in this country."

Boulder Mayor Mark Ruzzin said the turnout was going to mean a lot to the victim and for her recovery, and he called the assault a "shameful act."

Bo Svenson, 47, and her partner, Belinda Binette, 26, of Nederland, waved large flags of the world and colors of the rainbow. The flag of the world represents that "we're all in this together," Svenson said.

Don't remind me.

Update: We're here, we're queer, we're antidisestablishmentarianistic!

Update II: the Bo Svenson quoted in the story is NOT the Bo Svenson linked to. Wink, wink.