By Joey Bunch | jbunch@denverpost.com
Lawyer, lobbyist and gay political activist Ted Trimpa will finally get the recognition he’s had coming for a while on Aug. 20, when he receives a lifetime achievement award from One Colorado, the state’s largest advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Coloradans.
Trimpa was going to be honored at last year’s Ally Awards but had to postpone due to emergency heart surgery.
Instead, he leads a list of civil rights allies to be honored at the fundraiser at the Four Seasons hotel in Denver from 6:30 to 10 p.m.
“The 2016 Ally Award winners truly embody what it means to be a friend and champion for LGBTQ Coloradans,” Daniel Ramos, the interim executive director of One Colorado Education Fund, said in a statement Tuesday. “One Colorado Education Fund celebrates the work of allies because their courage is an incredible asset to our work.”
“This year has been filled with achievements for the LGBTQ community — but it has also been touched by tragedy. It is because of the commitment and passion of our allies that we are able to continue advocating for LGBTQ Coloradans and their families.”
MATTHEW HURON | CEO, Good Chemistry
With fifteen years of experience in the marijuana industry, and widely recognized as one of the most experienced cultivators of marijuana in the United States, Matthew Huron started Good Chemistry Colorado in 2010. Huron became involved in the medical marijuana industry when his father and his father’s partner were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. In 1996, when medical marijuana became available in California, Huron saw firsthand the symptomatic relief patients experienced from this alternative medical treatment. In 2000, he began growing medical marijuana for AIDS patients throughout the state, founding and operating a nonprofit medical marijuana co-op that became one of the most respected and well-known facilities in San Francisco. In 2010, he launched Good Chemistry Colorado, which is considered to be one of the finest vertically-integrated cannabis companies in the state.
TED TRIMPA | Lifetime Achievement Award
Ted Trimpa, from a tiny farm town in Kansas, eventually came to Colorado and joined forces with activist Tim Gill to change the political landscape across the state and nation. The two leveraged donors — gay and straight — to target legislative candidates who were attempting to ban same-sex marriage in their states. It is because of Ted’s ability to compromise that he was largely responsible for the Democratic takeover in the Colorado Legislature in the 2004 election. While Ted’s work isn’t done, he is deserving of a Lifetime Achievement Award because of his dedication to improving lives of LGBTQ Coloradans, and his ability to find middle ground.
See biographies on all honorees and read the full article here