Citizens Project

2011: The Year in Review

19th December, 2011

Thanks to Citizens Project’s inspired leadership, our volunteers, interns, collaborators, supporters and activists, 2011 was an incredible year! Below are just a few of the things we were able to accomplish with your help:

Awards

Citizens Project received several honors over the last year including: the Gay & Lesbian Fund Advancing Equality Award, “Ally of the Year” from the Colorado Springs Pride Center, and the “Steady and Strong for Diversity and Inclusion” award from the Colorado Springs Diversity Forum.

Events

Citizens Project events are more than fundraisers or friend-raisers; they’re community in action, bringing together people from across the region and across political and religious lines who share a few key values: equality, separation of church and state, diversity and civic engagement.

– More than 100 community members came out in sub-zero temperatures to honor local activist Mary Ellen McNally at Citizens Project’s 7th annual Divine Award Celebration.

- Four hundred attendees at our annual Creating  Community Breakfast joined together to raise $60,000 to increase Citizens Project’s impact in the community.

- Dozens of volunteers attended our twice-annual volunteer open house and staffed the Citizens Project booth at community events such as Everybody Welcome!, Juneteenth, Cinco de Mayo, and Pride Fest.

Collaboration

CP, in close collaboration with the Women’s Resource Agency, Inside/Out Youth Services and many more, worked to re-invigorate the Pikes Peak Equality Coalition, a group of local nonprofits dedicated to opportunity and access for all community members. Through our collective efforts, we made more than 3,000 contacts with voters in the general election cycle, reminding them to cast their ballots. In addition, CP was represented on the Public Affairs and Government Relations Committee of the Colorado Springs Diversity Forum, the Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable, and the Safe Schools Coalition.  Citizens Project staff members Kristy Milligan and RoMa Johnson also  presented at events and classes statewide, including: Center for Nonprofit Excellence, UCCS, El Pomar, NAACP, and the Denver Mayor’s LGBT Commission. Citizens Project also donated 18 cubic feet of physical archive files to the Pikes Peak Library District’s Special Collections. The archives will be available to the the public and will be preserved for future generations.

Voter Education

2011 was an exciting year in local elections: from the April municipal election and subsequent mayoral runoff election, to the November general election, there were many candidates vying for the votes of Pikes Peak residents.  And Citizens Project continued our 19-year tradition of providing nonpartisan election education information for all local elections through well-attended Mayoral and City Council forums, and a School Board Candidate and ballot measure forum. In addition, we published two comprehensive candidate survey Voter Guides, one for the municipal election and one for the general election, which were distributed to more than 100,000 people in the Pikes Peak region through our website, a mailing to our supporters, and inclusion in the Colorado Springs Independent.

Promoting Dialogue & Awareness

Citizens Project distributed our electronic monthly Freedom Watch Online to more than 2,000 subscribers, providing them with in-depth analyses of local and national issues, opportunities to get involved, and more. Through our electronic Action Network, we sent 1,500 activists up-to-the-minute updates about pending legislation and electoral initiatives with information about how to make a positive impact on public policy.

Again this year, Citizens Project deployed an awareness campaign to stimulate conversation and tackle some of the most difficult issues facing our community. The campaign appeared in print, online, and on billboards, and it continues to create robust discussion on our blog.

CP also worked with a coalition of twenty five diverse faith and civic groups to present a special film screening to commemorate 9/11.

Creating Inclusive Learning Communities

Our second annual Citizens’ Religious Freedom Institute, a one-day seminar for teachers, administrators, students and community members on how the courts have interpreted church/state separation in public schools and how to promote religious freedom in the classroom, was well-attended and highly rated by participants. Many attendees received graduate credit or contact hours, and, as one participant said, it was a “very enjoyable, informative day.”

Again in 2011, Citizens Project mailed the Anti-Defamation League’s December Dilemma publication to 200 local schools, which contains information about inclusive holiday practices. This year we also worked with Inside/Out and the Safe @School Coalition to provide a primer on recently-passed HB1254, which expands protection from bullying to LGBT students. Additionally, we followed up with several high schools that held their graduation ceremonies at churches to help ensure future commencement celebrations that honor the unique faith traditions of all students, and comply with legal precedent regarding separation of church and state.

All of this was work to advance religious freedom, diversity, equality and civic engagement in the Pikes Peak region was possible because of the hundreds of active supporters, just like you, who gave time, money, energy and vision to help Citizens Project put our mission into motion. Thank you – and we’ll see you in 2012!

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Colorado Springs Tribute to Gay & Lesbian Fund

12th December, 2011

Thanks to Culture Cast, KRCC and Rocky Mountain PBS for this amazing video tribute to the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado. And, of course, thank you Gay & Lesbian Fund!

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Citizens Project Volunteer Open House

9th November, 2011

Make a difference!
Join Citizens Project at our Open House

We are delighted to invite you to a volunteer open house at our office. Meet other supporters, hear about opportunities to get involved, and see where much of our work takes place! Please save the date and plan to join us!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011
5:00 until 6:30 pm
Citizens Project office at 4360 Montebello Drive, Ste 800
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
Map

If you’re interested in volunteering, but are unavailable to attend the open house, please email Kristy Milligan or call the office at (719) 520-9899.

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Citizens’ Religious Freedom Institute

31st October, 2011

Citizens Project is proud to present the third annual Citizens’ Religious Freedom Institute, a one day seminar on how the First Amendment to the US Constitution protects religious freedom in public schools. For teachers, students, parents, administrators, staff, school board members, and open to the public.

Saturday March 10, 2012

Colorado College, Slocum Commons

Participants will learn:

• How the law defines religious freedom in the public school setting,
• Best practices for respecting all students’ religious freedom, and
• How to be an advocate for religious freedom in your school.

In-service credit for teachers and graduate credit is available. Lunch, textbook and supplemental materials are provided to all participants.

To receive information about the Citizens’ Religious Freedom Institute, join our email list for Freedom Watch Online, email Kristy Milligan, or call us at (719) 520-9899.

Click here to download the flier

Click here for the REGISTRATION FORM.

Click here to download the 2011 Citizens Religious Freedom Toolkit.

Additional resource: US Department of Education guidelines

Additional resource: US Department of Education letter and primer

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Citizens Project Heralded as Steady and Strong Champion of Diversity

24th October, 2011

The Colorado Springs Diversity Forum has honored Citizens Project with a Steady and Strong Award for Diversity and Inclusion.  This prestigious award is given to businesses and organizations in the Pikes Peak region that promote diversity and inclusion in both internal operations and external civic engagement. Citizens Project was chosen as a recipient because of its commitment to diversity training, education, and highly inclusive organizational policies and benefits.

“Receiving a Steady and Strong Award for Diversity and Inclusion award is a huge honor for us,” said Kristy Milligan, executive director of Citizens Project. “It demonstrates our ongoing commitment to best practices, public education and outreach. Diversity is more than a box you check. It’s not something you do once and then move on. It’s an ongoing commitment to ensuring that everyone has a voice.”

Citizens Project has been a voice of diversity and inclusion in Colorado Springs for 20 years. Milligan says the organization is dedicated to continuing to champion these values in the community. “No one is more committed to diversity and inclusion than the Citizens Project staff and board members,” she said. “These are the unsung heroes, the silent and steadfast champions who work tirelessly to ensure that everyone has a seat at the table.”

About Citizens Project: Citizens Project is a local grassroots organization dedicated to defending and promoting equality, religious freedom, and respect for diversity – the principles on which our nation was founded. We educate the community through our newsletter Freedom Watch and nonpartisan voter guides, we monitor local government and public schools to ensure that rights and freedoms are upheld, and we mobilize residents to make their voices heard.

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Freedom Watch Voter Guide Available NOW!

20th October, 2011

Your vote is your voice.

Voting is more than a right; it’s a responsibility. When you make educated choices at the ballot box, you’re investing in your community and holding your leaders accountable.

That’s why, for the last 19 years, Citizens Project has produced nonpartisan publications and events for all local elections: to arm you with the information you need to make educated decisions that shape your community.

Thanks to the Pikes Peak Equality Coalition, collaborators, volunteers, donors, and readers like you, Citizens Project is proud to present our 2011 Freedom Watch Voter Guide for school board elections and city and state ballot measures. We hope you’ll use it to inform your decisions in the 2011 general election.

And if you’re still not sure, or if you haven’t received your ballot, check out our election page for all the information you need to make your voice heard.

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When Words Mean the Opposite: The Story of My Awakening

15th July, 2011

When Words Mean the Opposite: The Story of My Awakening

By David Trillo

If a psychic or a Tarot reader had told me in 1985 that, within the next seven years, I would become a gay rights activist, I would have laughed in his face – if he had caught me in a good mood.

I was more than just anti-gay.  I was vehemently anti-abortion.  The only reason why I didn’t join Operation Rescue or a similar group was youthful ignorance – I didn’t know where to contact them.

I was still an evangelical Christian when I joined as one of Citizens Project’s earliest supporters in 1992.  The idea of gay marriage was still hard for me to take, but as I listened to Christian radio and conservative talk beginning around 1990, I began noticing a pattern that disturbed me much more deeply than guys marrying guys.

I began noticing a very systematic, repetitive attack on the concept of church/state separation, and an orchestrated re-introduction of the antiquated idea of “legislating morality.”  Not only did that run counter to my core beliefs in Christian free will, but I knew that if I had doctrinal differences with the “Christian authorities” – and I did — it took no rocket science to see that these aspiring theocrats would impose their moral doctrines by legislation, with no regard for my Christian theological disagreement.

I became, on that fateful 1992 day, the most unlikely gay rights activist.  As distasteful as I found my admittedly distorted visions of the “gay lifestyle” to be at that time, I knew, deep down, that to protect my rights as a dissenter, I must likewise protect theirs.

It didn’t take long to see that, in the world of far right politics, words aren’t always what they seem.

To average people, “freedom” means that you can live your life much as you choose, as long as you aren’t hurting others.  The Constitution, we’d think, sets up a government with internal restraints, and protects important individual rights and freedoms so that no government can take them away.

But in the strange world of Hard Right vernacular, these familiar, appealing words can take on virtually opposite meanings.  “Freedom” isn’t what most people would think it is; it means instead either an unlimited “freedom to make laws”¹ as former judge Robert Bork puts it, or freedom is a “biblical concept” that “comes with limits set from the very beginning by our Creator,”² as explained by Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Religious freedom is also turned on its head.  To the Hard Right, it merely means the freedom to worship as you choose – “we won’t force you to go to church” — but you would be required to live your life by laws “rooted in Biblical law,” as the dubiously named Constitution Party says it³.  To be “free” to worship in your own religion, while being forced to live according to a different, government-imposed religion¹¹, is a hollow freedom.

And “Constitutional rights?”  Not as most people understand them.  To former Republican leader Tom DeLay, the Supreme Court should never have been given any power to overturn unconstitutional laws⁴.  To Robert Bork, very few rights would be off limits to being trampled by “representative assemblies¹.”  And to Religious Right attorney Thomas Jipping, “direct forms of democracy”⁵ such as ballot initiatives would probably be immune to Constitutional challenges, since he objects to the courts’ alleged “power to thwart the will of the people”⁵.

To theocratic “Constitutionalists,” the Constitution is considered subordinate to “God’s law”¹¹, despite its own statement to the contrary.  “Despotic government” is not tyranny in itself – it refers to any government that enacts laws contrary to “God’s law.” An expansion of personal liberty could be deemed “tyrannical” if “God” disapproves.   According to advocates such as noted creationist Henry Morris, this higher law that trumps the Constitution is “nothing more nor less than applied Biblical law.”¹²

Will voting for today’s Religious Right candidate “keep government out of our private lives,” as conservative and Republican advocates claim?  Don’t bet on it.

To Religious Right icon Sam Brownback, there exists no right to “sexual privacy”⁶.  To Tom DeLay⁴, and Vision America’s Rick Scarborough⁷, Americans have no protected right to privacy at all. Possible presidential contender Rick Santorum disparages the “right to privacy lifestyle”⁸, particularly as it pertains to sexual choice.

Conservative columnist Jason Adkins, to his credit, pointed out the importance of the courts’ role in enforcing the Constitution⁹.  Unfortunately, he was soon countered by comments that argued that the Bill of Rights doesn’t apply to states!

Indeed, partially or even completely repealing the power of the courts to enforce Constitutional protections is an increasingly popular idea among the far right^{10, 13}.  Imagine a future where your state or local government could randomly search your house for contraband books – and the Bill of Rights would afford no recourse.

America is just two or three “conservative” Supreme Court appointments away from possibly realizing such a frightening world.  That is what some extremists call “returning to Constitutional government.”

It is anything but.

Wow, what an awakening this was!  But the opening of my eyes paved the way for major changes in my soul.  I now support same-sex marriage with all of my heart.

I am still a moderate, libertarian Republican.  It worries me to see Democrats so eagerly support a wholesale expansion of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause scope to justify the upcoming federal health insurance mandate.  They would do well to contemplate such expanded federal power in the hands of the Religious Right.

But if you’re a Republican, Libertarian, new to the Tea Party, or are otherwise concerned about excessive government, don’t fall into the “any conservative is always better than any Democrat” thought habit.  Pay very close attention to candidates, and see whether each candidate uses the words “freedom” and “Constitutional liberty” in their normal, commonsense meanings, or whether there might be a bizarre reverse definition concealed inside a Trojan Horse.

If you’re looking for true Constitutional freedom, you might be disappointed, even stunned, that some of the people who most loudly promise “freedom” have in mind something very opposite — the unfettered legislative access to your most personal life.

I know I was stunned.  It knocked my eyes wide open.

———————————————————-

References:

1.  Robert Bork, “Tradition and Morality in Constitutional Law” p. 9

2.  Albert Mohler, “The Culture of Freedom and the Future of Marriage,” AlbertMohler.com, 9/14/2005, http://www.albertmohler.com/2005/09/14/the-culture-of-freedom-and-the-future-of-marriage-2/

3.  Constitution Party National Platform, as of 7/11/2011, http://www.constitutionparty.org/party_platform.php

4.  Tom Delay, Washington Times interview 4/13/2005, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/apr/13/20050413-111439-5048r

5.  Thomas Jipping, “Imperial Judiciary,” Christian American, Christian Coalition, January 1997.

6.  Sam Brownback, Obscenity Prosecution and the Constitution, Senate Hearing 109-1023, 3/16/2005, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-109shrg44825/html/CHRG-109shrg44825.htm

7.  Rick Scarborough, “It’s All About the Judges,” Scarborough Report, Vision America, 9/28/2007, http://www.visionamerica.us/article/its-all-about-the-judges/

8.  Rick Santorum, Associated Press interview, 4/23/2003, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-04-23-santorum-excerpt_x.htm

9.  Jason Adkins, “Judicial Abdication, Not Activism, is the Real Problem in the Courts,” Townhall.com, 2/24/2011, http://townhall.com/columnists/jasonadkins/2011/02/24/judicial_abdication,_not_activism,_is_the_real_problem_in_the_courts/

10.  2004/2008 Candidate Questionnaire, Conservative Caucus, http://www.conservativeusa.org/candqest2008.htm

11.  Main page, Rare Jewel Magazine Website, as of 7/12/2011, http://rarejewelmag.com/about/index.shtml

12.  Henry Morris, “The Higher Law,” Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/20528/228

13.  Alex Newman, “Stopping Abortion Without the Supreme Court”, The New American, 7/8/2011, http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/congress/8136-stopping-abortion-without-the-supreme-court

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The Colorado Springs Human Relations Commission —- 2011 — A New Page

15th June, 2011

by Tom Strand, Interim HRC Chair

The Human Relations Commission in Colorado Springs is back after an absence of almost 17 years.   In June of 2010 the Colorado Springs City Council passed Ordinance 10-48.  In early 2011, over 35 volunteer candidates were interviewed and on March 8th nine commissioners were selected for 2-4 year service terms along with three alternate Commissioners.  This Commission met for the first time in City Hall on April 28th. After a brief orientation, the 12 person Commission selected an Interim Chair, Tom Strand, Interim Vice Chair, Ernest House and Interim Secretary, Teressa Hill. The interim officers are designated to serve until September 2011 when a slate of permanent officers are elected. Since the initial April 28th meeting the Colorado Springs HRC has met on the third Wednesday of each month, as well as on May 21st for a general team building and organizational half -day session.

The mission statement and objectives of the HRC are still under development but are generally set out in the ordinance. The draft mission statement is:  ”To promote understanding and respect for all Colorado Springs residents by facilitating constructive communications through referrals, conflict resolution and proactive outreach.” The purpose of the HRC is to help guard against mal-treatment and discrimination in all parts of life for our residents, including housing, transportation, employment and day-to-day activities.

The HRC has created two sub-committees, Education and Structure, in order to accomplish the background work to properly launch the HRC later this fall. These committees have met 2 to 3 times to establish educational and training requirements (such as mediation skills) and to ensure the Commission is fully prepared to assist residents with a myriad of potential issues/problems. The Structure Subcommittee has drafted by-laws and other operating documents which are currently being reviewed and are pending Commission adoption.

The committees are working with members of City Council and other city offices, such as Legal and HR, to start up a program, a website, and public contact information for the HRC.

Stand by for the official announcement of the activation of your new HRC later this year!

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Join us at the Creating Community Breakfast!

1st June, 2011

Creating Community Breakfast

Save the date and join Citizens Project at the 7th annual Creating Community Breakfast!  This fun and free fundraising breakfast will feature speakers, musical entertainment and a few surprises. 

Thursday, June 9, 2011
7:30 – 8:30am (check-in begins at 7:00am)
Bigg City Event Center, 5825 Mark Dabling Blvd (north entrance)

Learn more about the work Citizens Project is doing in the Pikes Peak region to promote equal rights, diversity, religious freedom through separation of church and state and civic engagement, and learn how you can help! RSVP now to reserve your seat.

Citizens Project thanks our 2011 Creating Community Breakfast Sponsors: 

       

 

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