“Our goal is to drive them out,” said protester Tyler Schillings, 34. “We want their business to not exist — because if they succeed, that [extends] their reach to put it in other places.”
According to Chelsea Jacobs, a protester who’s been working for over three years with the Denver Communists, the group behind the demonstrations: “For about a month, the Denver Communists have been running a campaign against this cafe because it is bigoted; it is shrouded as a charity organization. It is a for-profit cafe, a front for a right-wing, bigoted church that is against the queer community. And we, as communists, believe in queer liberation. We believe in human liberation for all. And we think that as long as there is hatred against queer people, we are all oppressed.”
The Drip opened at 869 Santa Fe Drive, in the former home of Joe Maxx Coffee, on Friday, June 2. Demonstrators held their first demonstration during that First Friday Art Walk, a popular event that attracts thousands every month, according to the Art District on Santa Fe website. They’ve also protested on Saturdays.
“This has been a longstanding campaign — longstanding only in the sense that it began as soon as they tried to open their doors,” Jacobs said. “Folks that heard about it, folks that are just walking on the street, are checking things out and joining us. The word is getting out about this place.”
Owner Jamie Sanchez, who was at the Drip on Friday — along with a Christian DJ group made up of people he described as “visually handicapped” — has been calling for a truce between the LGBTQ+ supporters and his business, saying the protesters have the “anti-gay” thing all wrong.
“We stand on Scriptures that mention homosexuality being wrong and a sin, but that’s also mentioned among a list of things that we believe the Bible holds to be sin,” Sanchez said. “So it’s not that they’re being singled out. … In my belief, we’re all guilty of sin, including myself. I don’t hate anybody. And [LGBTQ+ community members] are all welcome in here. We serve LGBTQ people all the time — almost every day.”
Under the “Who We Are” tab on its website, the Drip’s parent company — the nonprofit Recycle God’s Love, which Sanchez also owns — discusses its “doctrine.” A section titled “Homosexuality” reads: “This organization holds that a homosexual lifestyle is contrary to God’s Word and purpose for humanity and is sin (I Timothy 1:10). … Moreover, this organization is instructed to Love those living such lifestyles. 1 Cor. 6:9 We Believe that showing hate towards people in these communities is not the way Jesus would respond. Therefor [sic], although disagreeing with the lifestyle, we must show love.”
According to activists with the Denver Communists, that section of the website has been edited since they began their protests. A flier the group handed out on July 7 included a screenshot of a previous version of the text, which read: “This organization is opposed to homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle. … The Bible instructs that it is a sin that leads to death.
“Members of the church are forbidden to practice such sin. Any member found to be in such sin and unrepentant shall be subject to dismissal,” the doctrine continues.
Both versions include the line “Moreover, this organization is instructed to Love those living such lifestyles,” which is bolded in the newer version.
Prior to the July 7 demonstration, Sanchez told Westword that it’s “unfortunate” that things have come to this.
“Our purpose behind this coffee shop is actually to give jobs for homeless people through our project,” he said. “We’re based from a nonprofit called Recycle God’s Love that does homeless outreach in Denver, downtown. And so this coffee shop is actually part of our project, where we’re doing everything from sober living to mental health counseling and giving jobs, helping financial sustainability in their life and stuff like that. So basically, this is that piece of the project where we’re actually helping homeless people get a stepping-stone job…and then we kind of transition them into a trade or something like that, or help them find a career path and that kind of thing. … So the protests, they’re pretty unfortunate.”
According to Sanchez, a large number of the people helped by Recycle God’s Love are from the LGBTQ+ community.
“If they knew the statistics…I think it’s like 30 percent of the homeless population in Denver, I believe, claims to be LGBTQ, and we serve them,” he said. “We actually serve a lot of them in our events that we hold downtown. Haircuts, food, clothing — all that stuff. And so really, all they’re doing is hindering health to their own community, which is really unfortunate.”
Calling for a truce, Sanchez added, “I wish they would let us speak to them, but they’ve made up their mind, and they don’t want to hear what we have to say, even though we’re helping part of their community. … We’ve had plenty of LGBTQ people come in and get served. Last time they were protesting, we offered them free coffee and gave out bottles of water to them.”
Sanchez claims that he’s tried numerous times to try and make things right with the LGBTQ+ supporters and those protesting, to no avail.
“Yeah, we’ve tried a general conversation just in front of the shop here, and there’s no conversation,” he said. “It’s mostly screaming on their side. And like I said, they’ve kind of made up their mind about who we are just because we have our religious beliefs. And we’re not going to hide it — it’s on our website — that we believe man was made for woman, and we believe what the Scripture says. So really, what they’re against is that we have an actual Scripture on there. And the Scripture does mention homosexuality, among other sins. It’s not like they’re singled out or anything. But because of that and our religious beliefs, they just don’t want to hear anything else about us. Even though, like I said, we’ve been helping parts of their community for years now.”
The Denver Communists aren’t buying it.
“They also disguise [the cafe] as a charity by hiring unhoused folks and exploiting their labor,” Jacobs charged. “This is something they use to garner credibility to make themselves look good. But in reality, the profits that they make are going to their right-wing church, Recycle God’s Love. So we’re out here trying to let people know who they are, what they actually stand for, and run them out of town, because they don’t belong here.”
Dima, a 34-year-old protester at the July 7 demonstration, moved to Denver from Russia after marrying his husband; he declined to share his last name. “This coffee shop just seems like a perfect facade to bring these ideas to the people to normalize this,” he said. “They are doing this under the premise [of], ‘Oh we’re helping homeless people find jobs’ — instead of maybe just helping homeless people find jobs without creating a coffee shop.”
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