WASHINGTON (AP) —  on Tuesday upheld state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, in another setback for transgender people.

The court¶¶Ňőap six-justice conservative majority, which has  in the past year, ruled that state bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution. The court unanimously agreed that barring transgender girls and women also doesn’t run afoul of the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court that, “states may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females” to address safety and competitive fairness concerns. “The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America.”

More than two dozen other Republican-led states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes, and the decision seems certain to extend to them as well.

Left unresolved by the outcome are lawsuits challenging state laws and regulations in Connecticut, California and elsewhere that permit transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying from the bench that the majority opinion was wrong to reject an equal-protection claim from 16-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson.

With the science still evolving, transgender students shouldn’t automatically be shut out of team sports, she said. “We just simply do not know scientifically that transgender students pose dangers,” she said, reading from a dissent joined by her liberal colleagues.

±Ę±đ±č±č±đ°ů-´ł˛ął¦°ě˛ő´Ç˛Ô,Ěý in Bridgeport, West Virginia, has been taking puberty-blocking medication, has publicly identified  since age 8 and has been issued a West Virginia birth certificate recognizing her as female. She is the only transgender person who has sought to compete in girls sports in West Virginia.

Pepper-Jackson has progressed from a back-of-the-pack cross-country runner in middle school to statewide champion in the shot put. She beat the second-place finisher by two feet in last month’s West Virginia championship meet.

In the Idaho case, Lindsay Hecox sued over the state’s first-in-the-nation ban for the chance to try out for the women’s track and cross-country teams at Boise State University in Idaho. She didn’t make either squad because “she was too slow,” her lawyer, Kathleen Hartnett, told the court during arguments in January, but she competed in club-level soccer and running.

Prominent women in sports have weighed in on both sides. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova, swimmers Summer Sanders and Donna de Varona and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings are supporting the state bans. Soccer stars Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn and basketball players Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart back the transgender athletes.

Kavanaugh, who has coached girls’ basketball, underlined the importance of women’s sports and athletes’ dedication. “No student-athlete on either side of the issue, whether a biological female or transgender, deserves to be ostracized or vilified,” he wrote.

In 2020,  LGBTQ people are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace, finding that “sex plays an unmistakable role” in employers’ decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate.

But last year, the six conservative justices on the nine-member court declined to apply the same sort of analysis when they upheld  for transgender minors.

The states supporting the prohibitions on transgender athletes argued there is no reason to extend the ruling barring workplace discrimination to Title IX.

Idaho’s law, state Solicitor General Alan Hurst said, is “necessary for fair competition because, where sports are concerned, men and women are obviously not the same.”

Republican President Donald Trump applauded Tuesday’s decision, calling it a “BIG WIN” in a social-media post.

Lawyers for Pepper-Jackson argued that such distinctions generally make sense but that their client has none of those advantages because of the unique circumstances of her early transition. In Hecox’s case, her lawyers wanted the court to dismiss the case because she had forsworn trying to play on women’s teams.

NCAA president Charlie Baker told Congress in 2024 that he was aware of only 10 transgender athletes out of more than half a million students on college teams. But despite the small numbers, the issue has taken on outsize importance.

Baker’s NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees  from women’s sports after President Donald Trump, a Republican, signed  aimed at barring their participation.

The public generally is supportive of the limits.  conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to compete only on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.

About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people ages 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at .

Warden Jeff Long and his brother, former Warden Ryan Long, participated in the derogatory group chat along with former Major Joshua Dorcey, former Corrections Officer Mike Sewell, Ryan Long’s son — who was not a prison employee — and a former corrections officer, according to a decision published by the Colorado State Personnel Board.

The group chat featured hundreds of messages that were “inappropriate, unprofessional, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist and otherwise offensive and derogatory,” according to the decision, issued by Administrative Law Judge Keith Shandalow earlier this year after Dorcey challenged his disciplinary demotion.

The texts, which the decision says were discovered on Ryan Long’s state-issued cellphone during an unrelated administrative investigation, appear to explain why the two Long brothers and Dorcey were placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation in March 2025.

A third warden, Shane Stucker, was also placed on leave at that time and is mentioned in the decision as sending or receiving messages that would “bring discredit” to the Colorado Department of Corrections should the messages become public, though it was not immediately clear whether Stucker was a part of the group chat.

Officials with the Colorado Department of Corrections have refused to offer any details on the internal investigation since the men were placed on leave 15 months ago, and Shandalow’s decision is the first time any information on the nature of the alleged misconduct has been made public. The decision mentions several times how damaging the texts would be to the Department of Corrections should they become public.

The group chat included slurs used against gay people and Black people, according to the decision, as well as “memes and gifs making fun of the LGBTQ community.” Ryan Long shared video footage in the chat of one woman prisoner striking another, and video of prison staff using a Taser on a prisoner, according to the decision. Dorcey complained that a particular prisoner was a “POS” in one exchange and that a coworker was a “dbag” in another, according to the decision.

When an internal affairs investigator confronted Dorcey with the nature of his texts, he hung his head and called them “shameful,” according to the decision. He also defended his conduct in the group chat, noting that “most of the offensive text exchanges occurred on his personal phone, and that he was not the initiator of the ugliest messages,” the decision reads.

“He denied being biased or racist, pointing out that, in response to an inappropriate message, he texted, ‘It¶¶Ňőap Juneteenth, show some respect,'” the decision reads. The decision did not include the message Dorcey was responding to.

Shandalow noted that Dorcey’s behavior was distinct from the “more egregious and prolific” participants in the chat. Internal affairs investigators found that it appeared the men in the chat played “PlayStation games together outside of work,” according to the decision.

Dorcey was demoted and returned to work Oct. 1. He was originally reassigned from the Sterling Correctional Facility to work in Denver, but successfully challenged that reassignment through the State Personnel Board, which affirmed his demotion but reversed the reassignment.

Stucker returned to work June 11 and is no longer He continues to hold the rank of warden, Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman Alondra Gonzalez said Monday.

She declined to comment on the specifics of the allegations, citing an “ongoing, active internal personnel investigation.”

“We strongly denounce any behavior that violates the dignity and respect every individual deserves,” she said in a statement. “The department maintains an absolute zero-tolerance policy for any actions that compromise our core values, our strict ethical standards or the public trust.”

Sewell said Monday that he was fired and that he’d been using his personal phone in the chat.

“It was a bunch of guys talking on their off time, and later I find out it is a state phone,” he said. “I took my lumps for it and I’m starting over.”

He declined to comment on the nature of the texts or content of the messages. Stucker, Jeff Long, Ryan Long and Dorcey could not be reached for comment Monday.

Jeff Long, warden of the , remained on paid leave as of June 15, Gonzalez said. He earns an annual salary of $134,000.

Ryan Long, who had served as the warden of the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center, retired April 1 after spending more than a year on paid leave.

The decision notes that “most of the inappropriate messages” did not come from Ryan Long, but that he received them on his state-issued phone and “did not correct the staff making the comments.”

Today in history:

On June 28, 1969, riots broke out following a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, an LGBTQ+ bar in New York’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, leading to six days of violent protests that served as a watershed moment in the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Also on this date:

In 1863, during the Civil War, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln appointed Maj. Gen. George G. Meade as the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, following the resignation of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker.

In 1914, in an act that helped trigger World War I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, were shot to death in Sarajevo by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip.

In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, formally ending the First World War.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Alien Registration Act, also known as the Smith Act, which required all noncitizens ages 14 and older residing in the U.S. to be registered and fingerprinted.

In 1997, boxer Mike Tyson was disqualified in his rematch with WBA heavyweight titleholder Evander Holyfield after Tyson bit Holyfield twice in the third round, including biting off a portion of Holyfield’s right ear.

In 2000, seven months after he was found adrift in the Straits of Florida, Elian Gonzalez was returned to his native Cuba.

In 2017, a man armed with a shotgun attacked the offices of The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, killing four journalists and a staffer before police stormed the building and arrested him; authorities said Jarrod Ramos had a long-running grudge against the newspaper for its reporting of a harassment case against him. (Ramos would be convicted and sentenced to six life sentences plus 345 years in prison.)

In 2019, avowed white supremacist James Alex Fields, who deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters during a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a young woman and injuring dozens, apologized for his actions before being sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges.

In 2022, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping lure teenage girls to be sexually abused by the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Filmmaker-comedian Mel Brooks is 100.
• Diplomat and politician Hans Blix is 98.
• Actor Bruce Davison is 80.
• Actor Kathy Bates is 78.
• Football Hall of Famer John Elway is 66.
• Actor John Cusack is 60.
• Actor Mary Stuart Masterson is 60.
• Actor Tichina Arnold is 57.
• Filmmaker-actor Mike White is 56.
• Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is 55.
• Actor Alessandro Nivola is 54.
• Country singer-TV personality Kellie Pickler is 39.
• Olympic track gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah is 34.

On Saturday, the will take place from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Cheesman Park, which will be closed to vehicles during the event.

As a result, RTD riders can access Routes 10 and 12 west of Corona Street or east of York Street, according to the news release.

Other routes will be affected by detours on Saturday, including Routes 8, 19, 32, 48, ART and the 16th Street FreeRide.

On Sunday, both and the will affect RTD routes.

Denver PrideFest is moving from Civic Center Park to part of 16th Street this year. The event starts at 10 a.m. and road closures will be in place from 7 a.m. Saturday to 11 p.m. Sunday, according to the news release.

As a result, the 16th Street FreeRide shuttle will detour to 15th Street and 17th Street between Lawrence Street and Broadway, RTD said.

The Vizzy Denver Pride Parade will start at 9:30 a.m. at Franklin Street and 17th Avenue. RTD riders should expect delays, detours and temporary stops downtown during the parade, according to the news release.

Civic Center Park is closed so those riding the eastbound 83L bus will board on Broadway at 13th Avenue. Other bus routes will be affected by detours including Routes 0, 1, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 15L, 16, 19, 20, 48, 52, according to the news release. ]]> 7793777 2026-06-26T06:55:39+00:00 2026-06-26T06:55:39+00:00 /2026/06/25/atrevida-beer-closing-colorado-springs-club-q/ Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:00:56 +0000 /?p=7792052 When in Colorado Springs pours its final pints this weekend, it will close one of the more extraordinary chapters in the state’s beer history.

Before the brewery opened in 2018, founder/co-owner Jess Fierro made a name for herself on VICE’s homebrewing competition show “Beerland.” Fierro won the judges over with a tamarind-infused Bière de Garde and subsequently had the opportunity to turn her recipe , which was brewed and distributed by Golden Road Brewing out of California.

Atrevida was billed as Colorado’s first Latina-owned brewery and leaned into its Mexican heritage through its beer styles and ingredients. The word atrevida means a daring or bold woman in Spanish, and the company’s slogan has long been “diversity, it¶¶Ňőap on tap.”

Fast forward to 2022 and Atrevida Beer Co. became a nationally recognized name after a mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ club in its hometown. Jess, her husband Rich Fierro and their daughter Kassy were watching a drag show at the club the night of Nov. 19 when a gunman opened fire and fatally shot five people. Rich, a U.S. Army veteran, disarmed and hit the gunman, saving innumerable lives, police said at the time.

In the wake of that tragedy, Atrevida Beer Co. received an outpouring of support from allies far and wide. Local supporters drained the kegs at the small brewery, and those more distant bought merchandise in shows of solidarity.

The Fierro family was overwhelmed with gratitude and also with grief. As they sought to adapt to their newfound popularity, Jess, Rich and Kassy put their own recovery from the traumatic event on the back burner. The brewery’s closing will finally afford them the chance to recuperate, Jess said in an interview this month.

“Following Club Q, we never really got time to figure ourselves out and work on our mental health. We kind of just got in robot mode and kept going,” she said. “So I think this is time we need to take for ourselves and focus on our family and go from there.”

Other factors related to the aftermath of the Club Q shooting played a role in the decision to close, Jess added. In an effort to serve the locals thirsty to support Atrevida, she sought to upgrade from a manual, 10-barrel brewing system to a larger, digital one. But the new brew house didn’t fit the building and it also appeared inoperable, Jess said. After failed attempts to get the proper permitting to install the system, Atrevida Beer Co. had to sell the equipment earlier this year.

The influx of merchandise purchases also led to unexpected problems, Jess and Rich said, including years-long delays in fulfillments and a lawsuit that they had to settle with their supplier.

“I’m still, to this day, mailing out T-shirts to folks that have waited,” Rich said. “Been a tough road, even though the intent was great and we appreciate it.”

All of this played out against the backdrop of waning consumer demand for beer, both locally and nationally. Craft beer production and sales have been steadily declining since the pandemic, with only in 2025, according to trade group the Brewers Association.

As the Club Q shooting faded from the news cycle, fewer people traveled to Atrevida’s taproom for drinks.

“The problem is that we just don’t have customer flow coming in locally,” Jess said.

All of those separate, but compounding factors led the Fierros to decide it was time to close the brewery. Its last day of operation is this Sunday, June 28. But Jess said this likely won’t be the family’s final act.

“I don’t think it¶¶Ňőap the end-all to everything, but I do think it¶¶Ňőap a well-deserved rest,” she said.

A judge ruled Tuesday that transgender people won’t face criminal charges for using Idaho public restrooms that match their gender identities.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Amanda Brailsford puts on hold enforcement of key components of a law adopted in March — and set to take effect July 1 — that went further than laws in other states to restrict which bathrooms transgender people can use in public places, including privately owned places where restrooms are open to the public.

“This ruling will allow transgender people throughout Idaho to find and use a public restroom,” Lambda Legal lawyer Kell Olson said in a statement Tuesday, “without the fear of arrest looming over them, while we continue the longer fight to permanently defeat this discriminatory law in court.”

The law is stricter than others

At least 19 states, including Idaho, have laws that limit which bathrooms transgender people can use in schools, or sometimes other public buildings.

The , signed by Republican Gov. Brad Little in March, went further.

It applies to restrooms — even in private buildings, if they’re open to the public. And it introduced criminal penalties, including up to a year in jail for a first offense and up to five years in prison for a second offense.

The law included exceptions allowing a person to use a single-use restroom designated for the “opposite sex” if it¶¶Ňőap the only “reasonably available” one — and when the person is in “dire need” of using the restroom.

The Idaho Chiefs of Police Association was concerned about how police would determine if someone was in “dire need.”

Six transgender Idaho residents represented by Lambda and the American Civil Liberties Union sued, arguing that the law is unconstitutionally vague.

A judge finds the law vague

Brailsford, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, largely agreed with the plaintiffs.

Her order didn’t entirely throw out the law.

Instead, the judge set some parameters, saying the law couldn’t be enforced against someone using a single-stall restroom or when no single-user restroom is available and unoccupied on the same floor as a multi-user facility.

“No one should be forced to choose between the threat of arrest for being themselves in public or the threat of harassment and violence for acting the way the state wants them to be,” ACLU lawyer Barbara Schwabauer said in a statement. “The preliminary injunction is a vital first step as we continue to challenge this gross violation of privacy and fundamental equality until the law is blocked for good.”

The state plans to appeal

Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador said he plans to appeal Tuesday’s ruling.

He said that even with the ruling, it can take effect regarding changing rooms and some restrooms. It also applies to people who are not transgender.

“This is a results-driven decision that misapplies the law, confuses the issues, and misrepresents the position of the State,” he said in a statement. “Biological sex is not vague, and neither is this law.”

Friday-Sunday. There’s no better place to nosh on a gyro, sip some ouzo or otherwise immerse yourself in Greek culture than this weekend’s 60th annual Denver Greek Festival. The joyous event, which last year hit record attendance of more than 30,000, according to organizers, runs Friday, June 5, through Sunday, June 7, with “an expanded festival footprint, indoor dining, faster food service, two new Plaka vendor areas, new menu offerings” and more.

Visitors can enjoy traditional dance and music (including choir concerts inside the cathedral), cathedral tours, cooking demos and tributes. The family-friendly event takes place at Assumption of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 4610 E Alameda Ave. in Denver, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $3-$5 per day; kids 12 and under are free. Call 303-388-9314 or visit for more details.

St. John’s Cathedral goes 3D

Opens Thursday. Capitol Hill’s gorgeous, 121-year-old landmark St. John’s Cathedral will try something different as it premieres the immersive, projection-driven new show “Celestia” on Thursday, June 11.

Created by Canada’s Paquin Entertainment Group and Normal Studio, “the custom installation will reimagine the revered space and Gothic Revival architecture as a living canvas, inviting the community and audiences of all ages to embark on a visually stunning and emotionally profound journey through a fusion of light, projections and original music,” producers wrote. (Translation: They’ll have animated, 360-degree projections set to a soundtrack.)

It takes place at 1350 N. Washington St. in Denver. Tickets to the 8:30 and 9:45 p.m. performances, some featuring a live choir on Fridays and Saturdays, are $38 for kids 2-15, and $49-$64 for adults, with discounts available, via .

Meow Wolf’s “phenomenal” summer

Opens Friday. There’s never a shortage of things to do at Meow Wolf Denver, where the Convergence Station immersive-art installation supports the on-site Perplexeplex venue and its widely varying bookings, ranging from trash-fashion and drag shows to buzzy, touring indie rockers and stand-ups.

But inside the exhibition, Meow Wolf is bringing back its Phenomenomaly programming Wednesdays through Sundays from June 5 through Aug. 9, with “performance spectacle” and “new mysteries and an evolving cast of creatures,” according to the company. That means roving bands of artists, actors, dancers, puppeteers and more, performing 2-7 p.m. on those select dates through August. First up? The June 5-7 shows from Love Art City, an Afro-futurist movement house.

It’s located at 1338 First St. in Denver. Tickets, which include the Phenomenomaly performances, are $50 for adults and $33 for kids 3-11, with $15 parking. Call 866-636-9969 or visit for more details.

LGBTQ Pride and doggie-drag shows

Friday and Saturday. The LGBTQ celebration known as Pride Month starts on June 1 in Denver, with dozens of ongoing activities that culminate in the reimagined Denver Pride parade and festival, coming to 16th Street and the Uptown neighborhood the final weekend of June. For quirky starting events, look to the doggie drag show The Mutt Strut, which takes place 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on Friday, June 6, at Skiptown Denver (3833 Steele St., Suite 1332). Visit for more.

The free event beats Union Station’s own version of a doggie drag-show, the also-free Paws with Pride, to the punch by a mere day, as the latter event returns for its third annual run on Saturday, June 7. Hosted by drag queen Talia Tucker at 1701 Wynkoop St. in Denver, Paws with Pride has a costume contest and runway show, with food and drink specials at Terminal Bar and pet-friendly vendors and local artisans, producers said. Visit for more details.

Colorado’s Republicans have an excellent choice for attorney general on the primary ballot this June – Michael Allen.

Allen, a Navy veteran, has served as the district attorney for El Paso and Teller counties since 2020, elected twice to serve one of the largest judicial districts in the state as the top prosecutor.

He has successfully handled some of the state’s most high-profile criminal cases, a testament to his ability to manage a large office that builds complex legal cases. Unaffiliated voters participating in the Republican primary will appreciate Allen’s non-partisan approach to the law, while Republicans will like his emphasis on fighting crime.

In the aftermath of the Club Q shooting, Allen did not play politics. There was an opportunity for him to waffle over whether the mass shooting was a hate crime, but instead, Allen brought additional charges of a “bias-motivated crime.” The man who killed five people and left 22 injured in a shooting that targeted an LGBTQ bar pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But the attorney general’s office in Colorado does much more than criminal prosecutions – in fact, the focus of the office is on civil law, like prosecuting antitrust cases and enforcing labor laws, defending constitutional challenges to Colorado’s laws in a non-partisan way and handling complex appeals.

Allen says he is ready to step into this expanded role. After graduating from the University of Kansas Law School, Allen worked in the Kansas attorney general’s office, where he focused on consumer protection. Still, Allen emphasized that he would focus on crime in the AG’s office, especially sex trafficking.

“We know that the attorney general’s office has access to a statewide grand jury … and they can go after criminal networks,” Allen said. “When we are talking about human trafficking, we know that those are criminal networks that are prostituting people across jurisdictional boundaries. Use that grand jury to go after those criminal networks and actually effect change and turn this tide on human trafficking.”

Allen’s opponent in the race, David Willson, worked in the Navy for 20 years. He became a JAG officer using his law degree to prosecute lawbreakers, worked for a stint with a U.S. Attorney’s Office and then transitioned to private practice representing parents who had lost custody of their children.

Willson said part of his motivation to run for attorney general was to oppose Allen. The two had disagreed in El Paso County over a case involving library books.

Willson said Allen should have filed criminal charges against school officials . “Promotion of obscenity to a minor” is a criminal offense in Colorado.

Allen disagreed, explaining his decision: “The criminal justice system in the United States should not be weaponized against political or social opponents based simply on disagreements, and the misuse of the prosecution process only erodes trust in an essential function of our shared government.”

We do not think the intent of the law is to chill free speech but to prevent child sexual abuse and grooming. There was no evidence that any adult or student was using the material in that way. Ironically, many of these novels and graphic novels were written for the exact opposite purpose — to highlight the evil and lasting impact of child sexual abuse. Some of the novels were coming-of-age stories that included sexual exploration, but nothing obscene, although some of it was certainly gross.

We do not want an attorney general who would pursue this further.

And that makes our decision easy. We urge voters to support Michael Allen for attorney general in the Republican primary.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

, at 204 Mt. View Lane, “made the incredibly difficult decision to close our brewery,” the company this week. The last day of operations will be June 28.

The social media post did not specify why the brewery is closing, noting only that “this decision doesn’t come lightly.” Co-owner Jess Fierro was not immediately reachable to elaborate on the circumstances.

Atrevida Beer Co. is unique among Colorado’s beer scene for many reasons, including that it is proudly owned and operated by a Latina. Fierro, who is also the head brewer, opened the spot in 2018 after competing on — and winning — the first season of Vice TV’s homebrew competition, “Beerland.” That scored her a deal with California’s Golden Road Brewing, which brewed, canned and distributed the winning beer, a tamarind-infused Bière de Garde called Doña Neta.

For eight years, Atrevida Beer Co. had leaned into its Latin heritage by prominently showcasing Mexican ingredients like lime and the Oaxacan delicacy chapulines, or crickets. The word atrevida means a daring or bold woman in Spanish, and the brewery’s slogan has always been “diversity, it’s on tap.”

Atrevida Beer Co. became a nationally-known name in 2022, however, after tragedy struck its hometown. In November of that year, a gunman walked into the LGBTQ+ hotspot Club Q during a drag show and fatally shot five people while injuring more than a dozen others. The Fierros and their daughter Kassy were in attendance that night, and Rich tackled, disarmed and beat the gunman in a heroic act that police said saved many lives.

The brewery swiftly received an outpouring of support. Local drinkers drained several months worth of beer in just a few days, while letters of gratitude flooded the brewery’s mailbox. The Fierros were thankful and also struggling. Raymond Green Vance, Kassy’s then-boyfriend, was killed in the shooting and the family was mourning. They had been in and out of the hospital with Kassy, who sustained a knee injury during the incident.

“Mentally and emotionally, you know, it¶¶Ňőap a process,” Jess told The Denver Post at the time. “We’re minute-by-minute, second-by-second at this point. We never know what¶¶Ňőap going to trigger one or the other.”

In this week’s announcement, Atrevida Beer Co. thanked its community for its support over the years.

“We are so grateful for those who chose to spend their time with us, to the regulars who became like family, and to our dedicated team who poured their hearts into every pint for the past 8 years. You’ve shown up for Team Atrevida in times of crisis and triumphs and we couldn’t be more thankful for that,” the post read in part.

The brewery plans to host an Atrevida Adios Party on June 20 from 3 to 9 p.m. featuring mariachi music, food and, of course, beer.