Progress Now Action

LESBIAN COUPLE RISKS ARREST TO SEEK MARRIAGE LICENSE IN DENVER

Local Faith Leader Supports Demand for Civil Marriage

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Soulforce Media Advisory: September 21, 2007 For Immediate Release

Contact(s):
Kate Burns & Sheila Schroeder, kateburns303@comcast.net, 303-806-8444 Christopher Hubble, Soulforce Colorado State Organizer, 303-241-3225, cahubble05@yahoo.com
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(Denver, CO) - In an effort to achieve basic fairness and marriage equality for all of Colorado's families, local nonviolent advocates will again seek to elevate this issue in the public mind. On Monday, September 24, married same-gender couple Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder will enter the Denver Clerk and Recorder Office to request a marriage license. When denied, they will risk arrest by refusing to leave.

Who: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Families and their Allies, including Rev. Mike Morran of the First Unitarian Society, Denver.

What: Marriage Equality Direct Action: press conference, vigil, civil disobedience

When: Monday, September 24, 2007 3:30 p.m. MDT

[TRAINING IN NONVIOLENCE TO PREPARE FOR MONDAY'S ACTION IS SCHEDULED FROM 1:30-4:30 SUNDAY AFTERNOON (09/23) AT THE GLBT COMMUNITY CENTER OF COLORADO (1050 BROADWAY IN DENVER--JUST SOUTH OF 11TH AND BROADWAY ON THE EAST SIDE OF BROADWAY--LOOK FOR THE PURPLE AWNING)]

Where: Denver Clerk and Recorder Office, Wellington Webb Municipal Administration Building, 201 West Colfax Avenue, Denver, Colorado 80202, (Court-Colfax block on 15th Street)

SOULFORCE is a national civil rights and social justice organization. Our vision is freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance. For more information, go to www.soulforce.org.

"All reforms owe their origin to the initiation of minorities in opposition to majorities... Those who believe that they are not bound to obey laws which are repugnant to their conscience have only the remedy of [nonviolence] open to them." M.K. Gandhi


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ABOUT THIS MARRIAGE EQUALITY DIRECT ACTION

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This action seeks to dramatize that marriage laws which deny full equality to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are an example of religion-based oppression and undermine America's tradition of religious pluralism protected by the U.S. Constitution.

When asked about her decision to participate in this action, Sheila said, "In the four years since my partner and I had our commitment ceremony, we have experienced numerous acts of discrimination. We are denied the ability to file taxes together. We experienced panic when I had a potentially dangerous health crisis and we had no security that she could attend to me in the hospital. We have spent thousands of dollars in legal fees to combine our property and insure our rights as a couple--when heterosexual couples are granted all of this free without question. This discrimination is unconstitutional and unconscionable. It is my patriotic duty to stand against this discrimination. The world needs more love and more support for loving couples. My church supports this fundamental notion and now it's time my government does too."

Earlier this year, Soulforce launched FOCUS ON THE FACTS, an ongoing campaign of nonviolent direct action with the goal of ending religion-based oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Coloradans--staging several sit-ins at James Dobson's ministry headquarters in Colorado Springs since February. Most recently, on July 13th, Soulforce, Just Spirit, and the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Pride Center organized a marriage equality direct action at the county clerk's office in Colorado Springs. For several years now, affirming marriage equality has been a distinct theme at PrideFest in the Springs. Several same-gender couples asked for marriage licenses and were denied according to state statute. Randomly formed opposite-gender couples then obtained licenses to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the law. And a couple that had been denied when attempting to obtain a license in a previous year as lesbian partners obtained a license this year because one of them has since transitioned to become male.

Speaking about the continuation of this campaign in Denver and her participation in the action on Sep 24, Kate Burns said, "As a life-long Unitarian Universalist, I seek to practice my religion by marrying my life partner in the church where I grew up. My religion does not condemn love simply because it happens between partners of the same gender. Legislation that prevents me from marrying my partner interferes with the free exercise of my faith tradition and imposes the viewpoint of one religious view--which opposes our union--on all citizens. My union with my partner, Sheila, is a life-long commitment founded on love and respect for each other, and for each other's families. I will not allow an unjust law tell me that we are not worthy of being married. Following the principles of nonviolent resistance, I will do whatever it takes to shed light on the immoral and discriminatory legislation that denies basic human rights to us as a couple, and to all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people."

Kate's and Sheila's minister, Rev. Mike Morran of the First Unitarian Society of Denver will be present Monday to support Kate and Sheila in this profound act of civil resistance. Rev. Morran has a history of support of full equality for all of Colorado's families. A year ago to the day, he led a "Standing on the Side of Love" service on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol Building in support of the "principles of love, diversity, freedom and inclusion." Explaining his support for Kate and Sheila, Rev. Morran said, "There are so many levels where marriage equality simply makes good sense. From a religious point of view, the Gospels clearly hold up Love as the spiritual goal for people of faith. From a church point of view, marriage is a sacrament and the state should stay out of it. From a constitutional point of view, freedoms, like the freedom to marry, that apply to some citizens but not to others can only undermine the civil rights of all people, not just gays and lesbians. As a person of faith, as a pastor, and as a citizen, I am proud to stand on the side of love, to protect the right of churches to administer their own sacraments, and to uphold equal rights and responsibilities for all citizens." [A full text of the "Standing on the Side of Love" principles are included with this advisory.]

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FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY OF DENVER seeks "to create a loving and welcoming spiritual family, embracing all who enter in search of solace, inspiration, knowledge, and growth… we bring our gifts to build a strong religious community… we venture into the wider world, working to build a just and nurturing society for all." The UUA's support of equal treatment for bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender persons is long-reaching and extensive. For more information, go to www.firstunitariandenver.org. UUA Interfaith Clergy Pledge for the Freedom to Marry.

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ACTION PARTICIPANT BIO INFORMATION:

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SHEILA E. SCHROEDER is an ordinary American who recognizes that speaking about injustice is her patriotic duty. She is a partner, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, teacher, and a filmmaker. Just like her filmmaking mission where she tries to amplify the voices of those not often portrayed in the media, she is trying to use her own voice to draw attention to injustice she experiences. While she has come to activism later in life and participated in nonviolent actions in the past, this will be her first act of civil disobedience.


KATE BURNS was born in Denver, attended East High School and Colorado State University, and now works at the University of Denver. She has pride in her native state, and considers it her responsibility to keep working as a dedicated citizen to help Colorado progress to become a shining example of freedom and equality. She grew up in First Unitarian Church of Denver where her minister, Rev. Mike Morran, would gladly marry her to her partner of five years, Sheila Schroeder, if the state and nation of her birth would shed its institutional discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.


REV. MIKE MORRAN is minister at First Unitarian Church in Denver, Colorado, an urban congregation of over 250 families. He is a member of Colorado Clergy for Equality in Marriage, Capitol Hill United Ministries, and the Family Matters Task Force of the Unitarian Universalist Association. He is a proud father of two children, whom he co-parents with his partner of 13 years.


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STANDING ON THE SIDE OF LOVE PRINCIPLES

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First Unitarian Society of Denver believes that all human beings are created in love, worthy of dignity and respect to the fullest extent. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are an integral part of natural and divine creation. Therefore we stand on the side of Love.

We believe that a Family is best defined, not by gender, but by commitment and Love. Therefore we stand on the side of Love.

We believe that Creation is characterized by diversity, and that loving relationships take many forms. Reverence for diversity ensures the peaceful prosperity of the human race. Therefore, we stand on the side of Love.
We believe that responsible Freedom is the highest political achievement of our culture, the best environment for human beings to grow in, and the only environment in which both human and divine Love can flourish. Therefore, we stand on the side of Love.

We believe that a Freedom, including the freedom to marry the person of our choice, if it does not apply equally to all citizens, is not Freedom. Standing for the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people will help to preserve the civil rights of all human beings. Therefore, we stand on the side of Love.


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MORE INFORMATION ABOUT "FOCUS ON THE FACTS":

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Video of several FOCUS ON THE FACTS actions are now viewable at the Soulforce website or on Google:


>> Feb 18 - Dotti Berry and Robynne Sapp sit-in at James Dobson's ministry headquarters.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8003306472349571226&q=dotti+berry+robynne+sapp&total=5&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1



>> April 28 - Roses and Reality - Chris Hubble and Leigh Lyon are arrested entering the campus of James Dobson's ministry headquarters to deliver A False Focus On My Family and the open video letter DVD "Dear Dr. Dobson".

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-809226073899638175



>> July 13 - Marriage Equality Direct Action - Marriage Equality direct action led by Rev. Elder Dr. Nori Rost, Ryan Acker and Frank Volz.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2420139976809796770&q=marriage+equality+action&total=35&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0