Twenty years ago on Christmas Eve, Linda Warren was preparing for a holiday party when she got a desperate call from someone she barely knew who worked at the GLBT Community Center of Colorado, alerting her that presents for the LGBTQ children’s holiday party had fallen through.
That night, the now-76-year-old Westminster woman became the self-proclaimed “Queer Santa,” not hesitating to pause her own plans and buy gift cards out of her own pocket for needy children she’d never met. Warren has reprised her role each year since, growing the tradition bigger and better in the name of Christmas spirit.
“From the very start, there was one thing I required of the gifts,” Warren said. “I said, ‘I don’t know a lot about this, but I feel the children don’t get a lot of love,’ so I wanted them all to have a tag that said, ‘Love, Santa.'”
Warren’s initial tie to the center that first Christmas was distant. She shared a few smiles and laughs with an employee at the LGBTQ advocacy organization after driving a sick neighbor to the center for weekly group therapy meetings for Coloradans with cancer. But her kindness was palpable, and the staff at the center knew just who to call when the gift donor for their youth program’s first holiday party backed out at the last minute.
Now, the presents are paid for through donations from a fundraising campaign that Warren spearheads every year, typically raising as much as $35,000 for gifts.
Warner’s thoughts about LGBT youth being denied a holiday gift wandered back to her younger years when her father confronted her about being a lesbian, saying she either had to leave her partner or be written out of his will. She didn’t want other young LGBTQ people to feel excluded.
“I really wanted to know these children, and when I started to meet them, some of them weren’t in their homes, and I just wanted to do something for them,” Warren said. “They deserved it. I made it perfectly clear I would not discriminate — gay, straight, trans. Anyone that comes and wants a present, I wanted them to have a present.”
The years went on, and the GLBT Community Center’s youth program Rainbow Alley and the holiday party — dubbed “Holigay” — became more sophisticated as Warren grew into playing Santa.
Warren asked Rainbow Alley to provide a list — checked twice — of gifts the kids actually wanted.
“I promised if the child actually needed something, my friends and I would get it for them, but I wanted them to have the fun Christmas gift and a nice Christmas dinner, too,” Warren said. “My friends and I would go shopping for them. It was lots of fun for me.”
Decked out in a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer sweater with bow-wrapped present earrings dangling from her ears, Warren recalled some of the most precious gifts she has helped give over the years. She remembered one young man, an artist, who got into a summer camp in California to nurture his talent.
Warren, her friends and the center helped pay for the boy’s whole trip.
“The day he was supposed to leave, I woke up before daylight and realized I didn’t give that kid any spending money,” Warren said. “I got in touch with the center right away and went to the bank and cashed a check and give him the money. I wanted him to be able to buy a souvenir.”
Warren’s preparation for the holiday party has evolved over the years. For a while, Queer Santa and her friends shopped for the gifts themselves, wandering around malls and specialty stores making sure all the kids’ holiday wishes would come true. Now, Rainbow Alley orders the presents because the celebration has grown so large.
Warren still holds a gift-wrapping party at her home before helping hand out the gifts at the Holigay celebration.
“I’ve had children sit on my lap like Santa and start crying with joy because that is the only present they’re going to get that year,” Warren said. “It’s just heartbreaking.”
This year’s Rainbow Alley holiday party was held on Dec. 15 .
The goal of Rainbow Alley is to help LGBTQ youth find acceptance, center spokesman Rex Fuller said.
“Many of our youth feel excluded during the holidays,” he said.
To make sure no child feels left out of the holiday spirit for years to come, Warren already has found a successor to her Queer Santa throne.
“A part of me doesn’t want to quit until I just keel over, but another part of me says that’s not very giving,” Warren said. “It’s selfish to not let someone else have the enjoyment and fun that I’ve had the last 20 years.”