Marc Solomon on Winning Marriage and the Fight for Same-Sex Rights Tonight

Same-sex marriage was the hot topic of the summer, with Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Hillary Hall following in the four-decade-old footsteps of her predecessor Clela Rorex, who'd issued the first same-sex marriage licenses in the country back in the mid-'70s. But with the U.S. Supreme Court's deliberate inaction this...

By Westword Staff

December 8, 2014

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "12017618",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17242653",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261320",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261321",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Same-sex marriage was the hot topic of the summer, with Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Hillary Hall following in the four-decade-old footsteps of her predecessor Clela Rorex, who'd issued the first same-sex marriage licenses in the country back in the mid-'70s. But with the U.S. Supreme Court's deliberate inaction this fall, same-sex wedding bells are now ringing all over the country. And tonight, Mark Solomon, national campaign director for Freedom to Marry, will be in Denver to talk about Winning Marriage: The Inside Story of How Same-Sex Couples Took on the Politicians and Pundits -- and Won. See also: Clela Rorex Planted the Flag for Same-Sex Marriage in Colorado Four Decades Ago The program will start at 6:30 p.m. at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, and not only will Solomon be on hand, but so will Scott Miller of One Colorado and activist/philanthropist Tim Gill, who played a major role in the campaign, according to Winning Marriage. As Solomon writes:

Thankfully, we had one donor, Tim Gill, who was in for the long haul, knew that losses were part of any social movement, and had cultivated a community of donors who invested in LGBT equality and looked to Tim for leadership. Gill, a Denver-based tech entrepreneur, had dedicated much of his time to the cause of equality after Colorado voters passed a horribly anti-gay statewide constitutional amendment in 1992. He sold his company and took a substantial portion of its profits -- $250 million -- to establish the Gill Foundation to invest in organizations working for LGBT equality. After the multiple losses at the ballot in 2004, he turned his attention to political giving, establishing the Gill Action Fund to back advocacy campaigns and candidates advancing our agenda and -- as he liked to put it -- "punish the wicked."

Here all about it tonight at MCA Denver. The event is free. For more on Winning Marriage, visit marcsolomon.com.

Follow @WestwordCulture

Become A Member

BEFORE YOU GO...
Can you help us continue to share our stories? Since the beginning, Westword has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver — and we'd like to keep it that way. Our members allow us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls.