Celebrate Freedom to Marry Day in Fort Collins

Road trip!

Lambda Community Center will jointly host with Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Fort Collins and the Center for Justice, Peace and the Environment, the 11th annual Celebrating Community and Families: Freedom to Marry Day 2010 on March 6 in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The rally will start at 12:30 p.m. with live music by Jill Brzezicki, a "wedding reception" with delicious wedding cake, and speakers including Blaine Harding - College of Liberal Arts instructor at CSU, Gabe Case and Lalery Mayo of Loveland, Kalabrian Lambert - Art Student at CSU, Jackie and Peg Campbell of Loveland and Estrella Lobato - Board of Directors for Lambda Community Center as emcee.

Freedom to Marry Day is a day to honor and rally support for marriage and the full diversity of our families -- regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The event is celebrated in many cities nation-wide.

Gay marriage fight comes to Fort Collins

Colorado State University students initiate ballot measure process in support of gay marriage in Fort Collins. Whoo-hoo! This whole gay marriage thing is starting to get pretty interesting.

Tonight's GLAAD training in Ft. Collins has been rescheduled due to snow

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Lambda Community Center and the GLBT Community Center of Colorado had scheduled a series of advocacy trainings in Colorado where community members, students, allies, religious and organization leaders, and parents of LGBT children are invited to come and actively participate in developing stronger media communications capacity.

Due to today's snow, the Fort Collins trainins has been rescheduled to Saturday, March 28, 2009 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Lambda Community Center, 212 South Mason Street.

Communications work, like lobbying or door knocking, involves strategy that can move public opinion about issues to accomplish a goal. These advocacy trainings will give you the resources you need to speak up about LGBT issues to move public opinion.

The advocacy trainings are free and open to the public. Early sign-up is advised since places are limited. Please RSVP today! For more information and to reserve your spot call GLAAD's Media Field Strategist Adam Bass at (213) 440-4728 or email mediastrategywc@glaad.org.

Freedom to Marry Day in Fort Collins

Freedom to Marry Day will be celebrated in Old Town Square in Fort Collins at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 21.

The 10th annual rally will include speakers and music. Rally supporters will then march to Avogadro's Number, 605 S. Mason St. for a reception that includes wedding cake, entertainment by Driftwood Fire and other festivities.

Freedom to Marry Day is a day to honor and support marriage and family bonds for all couples, regardless of sexual orientation. It is celebrated in many cities nationwide. The Fort Collins Old Town event will feature music by Jill Brzezicki and the combined Tapestry and Foothills Unitarian Church Choirs.

Rob Short, Equal Rights Colorado board member, will present the keynote. Other presentations by Julie Wilson, PFLAG-Fort Collins, a committed same-sex couple and a youth representative will follow.

Within the federal system, 1,138 laws are triggered by civil marriage. Over 100 more are triggered on a state level. Some of the typical rights and responsibilities granted with a civil marriage license include:

* Assumption of spouse's pension
* Automatic inheritance
* Automatic housing lease transfer
* Bereavement leave
* Burial/remains determination
* Child custody
* Crime victim recovery benefits
* Divorce protection
* Domestic violence protections
* Joint adoption and foster care
* Legal co-parenting (Insurance, School Records, Medical Decisions, etc)
* Medical decisions on behalf of spouse
* Right to visit a spouse in the hospital or prison
* Right to become a legal parent to a partner's child
* Visitation of spouse's children in the event of separation
* Work leave to care for a sick partner under family medical leave laws and when a spouse gives birth/adopts under parental leave laws
*Wrongful death settlements

"In the wake of California's homophobic Proposition 8, we are coming together in Fort Collins to speak out for a better vision and the promise of a just society, " said Cheryl Distaso, Freedom to Marry committee chairperson.

Currently, Connecticut, Vermont and New Jersey have civil union laws. The Freedom to Marry Day committee goal is to see Colorado, and ultimately the entire United States, move towards the ultimate goal of same-sex marriage, as is the case in Massachusetts. Massachusetts is the only state that offers full rights of same-sex marriage.

Freedom to Marry Day gives all members of the community an opportunity to come together to recognize the importance of ending sex discrimination in marriage, so that lesbian and gay couples can share in the rights and protections of civil marriage.