Denver Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Celebrates Community Allies of the Year

The DGLCC is very excited to be hosting the 16th Annual Business Awards Dinner this evening. You can buy your tickets online today in order to meet your Community Allies of the Year - Fran & Anna Simon! Their story is absolutely amazing:

Fran and Anna fell in love in California in 2003 while Anna was doing a post doc at UC Davis. Fran had attended Stanford for graduate school and afterward had made the Bay Area her home. Anna was originally from Cincinnati and Fran from New Jersey, but after Anna was offered a tenure-track position at the University of Denver and Denver Botanic Gardens (DBG), the two made the mile high city their home and have loved it ever since. Their first years together were spent on mutual loves including international travel, road cycling, and socializing with friends.

When they decided to embark on the adventure of parenthood, it was important to them to get married first. Although it offered no legal

protections, Fran and Anna had a religious ceremony in 2005 before 100 friends and family. Anna legally changed her name to Simon the following year, and their son Jeremy was born in 2007. Parenting Jeremy has proven to be the couple's most significant challenge and greatest joy.

As a family, the Simons enjoy biking, skiing, entertaining guests in their West Wash Park home, visiting Jeremy's doting out-of-town grandparents, and taking advantage of all that Denver has to offer, from the Colorado Ballet to Rockies games to street festivals.

Anna is now a part-time professor at DU, and Fran is self-employed as a market research and analytics consultant. In addition to corporate clients, Fran conducts polling, messaging research and other studies for local and national LGBT organizations such as One

Colorado and Gill Foundation. Fran and Anna believe it is important to share who they are with others, whether it be making presentations about Jewish holidays at Jeremy's school or speaking openly about their two-mom family.

They have been willing to testify before the legislature, speak at rallies, and talk to the press about the importance of legalizing civil unions, in part because they know there are so many LGBT Coloradans who cannot due to safety concerns, resources, etc. In the context of their fight for relationship recognition in CO, they have appeared on the cover of The Denver Post three times, in local television news coverage, on the radio, and in AP stories picked up across the country, including USA Today, The Huffington Post,

and The San Francisco Chronicle.

They feel it is their duty to do whatever may be helpful toward increasing understanding of families like theirs and achieving equal protection under the law.

Help celebrate our Community Allies of the Year at the 16th Annual Business Awards Dinner on November 15th from 6:00-10:00 PM at Mile High Station! Tickets are selling fast, be sure to get yours today.