Aspen still seeing stars
Star-gazing is at peak season in this exclusive Rocky Mountains resort. But this Christmas, the presence of celebrities has become politicized in the intensifying clamor over whether to boycott Colorado because of its new anti-gay rights amendment.
Despite some high-profile cancellations, great powder appears to have won over political correctness.
"Our business is way up," Harley Baldwin said over the din in his crowded, membership-only Caribou Club. "The snow is great and the recession seems to be over. We're doing superbly."
"That said, I am disturbed, angry and resolved to do something" about the amendment, Baldwin said.
Aspen appears to have avoided the impact of the boycott, which has gained momentum since voters approved Amendment 2 on Nov. 3. The measure says governments in the state can't pass laws barring discrimination against gays.
Aspen, Boulder and Denver, which have such laws on the books, have joined a court challenge to the amendment. At least a dozen major cities have supported the boycott and several conventions and meetings have been canceled.
But it's mostly business as usual in Aspen, where the billionaires are said to have driven out the millionaires. Reservations are running about 12% ahead of last year, the Aspen Resort Assn. said.
The Ritz-Carlton Aspen, open just a month, has had no cancellations attributed to the amendment, but some callers have asked the hotel, "'How do I explain it so I can still come?"' said spokesman Frank Cavella. Some celebs have decided to abide by the boycott; others are flying in to fight Amendment 2.
Liza Minnelli arrived Tuesday and left a few hours later, backing out of a fund-raiser for Aspen's "Undo 2 Fund." Her friends persuaded her not to do the concert and she'll no longer vacation in Colorado, her publicist said.
John Denver, John Oates and Anthony Zerbe were to perform at the benefit, but Melissa Etheridge canceled a concert in Aspen in protest. The Kennedy family, who usually show up 40 or 50 strong during the holidays, are spending Christmas in Park City, Utah.
Barbra Streisand has said she will join the boycott. Whoopi Goldberg and director Jonathan Demme have said they won't spend the holidays here, but many Aspenites sniff that the two have never been here during "the season" anyway.
Locals say most of the people who always holiday here will be here, including Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, who have a home in Aspen; Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell; Robert Wagner and Jill St. John, Aspen regulars; and Jack Nicholson, who's called the boycott "rubbish."
Singers Jimmy Buffett and Don Henley are expected, and Cher said she'll spend the holiday at her Aspen home. Also in town this week is tennis star Martina Navratilova, a lesbian who gave money to fight the amendment and has threatened to leave the state since the law was passed.
Columnists who cover the stars also have agonized over whether to come to town. At least one, William Norwich of the New York Post, will not be making the rounds. He said he won't be covering Aspen society because the amendment is a "social wellness" issue.
Former tennis champ Chris Evert and her husband, Andy Mills, a TV ski commentator and ski director at Aspen, live here but will visit Evert's family in Florida for the holiday.
Evert said boycott supporters shouldn't avoid Aspen, Boulder and Denver because those communities not only had gay-protection laws on the books, their residents voted against Amendment 2.
Terry White, chairman of the Aspen Gay & Lesbian Community, said he doesn't blame boycotters, "but I wish they would see our side and see Aspen is gay-friendly."
