What an early start to the day, alarms went off at 5:45 am to begin getting ready for the day. Despite the horridly early hour, not one of us uttered a complaint. We naturally just lay in our warm sleeping bags longer than anticipated: we only dragged ourselves out to the car at 7:20 am. Twenty minutes later than planned. Luckily, we still made it to the Denver Mint in time for our 8:00 am tour. Our tour guide was QUITE perky for such an early hour. I was excited to see coins being printed and learn a bit of history about the process too, but the smiley, mechanical enthusiasm was odd. An hour later, we were sitting in the One Colorado office. I’d been awake for three hours and the day had only just begun.
The One Colorado office has an incredible atmosphere. It exudes positivity, inclusivity, and pride. Each person that works at and with the organization is beyond cool. I wish I could be best friends with each one of them. Everyone there is working to inspire change with an unstoppable drive. With this passion, they are some of the most welcoming, happy people I have had the joy to meet. Just sitting at a laptop entering data into a spreadsheet this morning, I felt energized just being there.
After a delicious lunch at Hamburger Mary’s, (the restaurant recommended to us by those at One Colorado when inquiring about places to go in the gay community in Denver. It was fabulous, though we unfortunately could not return later that night for Drag Bingo as it was a 21+ entry only) we had a discussion about faith in the Civil Union debate with Jeremy who works with an organization, Interfaith Alliance, that works with people of faith who support LGBT rights. It was wonderful to be able to speak openly with someone with knowledge on this issue. For me personally, I have been so frustrated by the fact that religious objections seem to be the only obstacle to obtaining equal marriage rights for those in the LGBTQ community. I do very much believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but we have a separation of church and state in our constitution and religion should not be used for rationalization in politics. But, I realized as Jeremy said, this is inevitable as one’s religion often forms one’s morals which do have a place in politics. It was very interesting to hear how Jeremy and the Interfaith Alliance went about dealing with this. It is integral to have members of faith communities describe how their faith is WHY they support the LGBTQ movement. This is the only way to start to break down the barriers that religious objections have put in place.
Yet again, I left the One Colorado office feeling more knowledgeable about the LGBT community. That alone would have made today successful. And still, upon returning to the church it has been another night of awesome group bonding. This group is best.
I can't wait for tomorrow!
Micah Melia
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