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Arrests end protest over same-sex law

Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 25, 2007 at midnight

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An Englewood couple was arrested Monday while challenging the state ban on same-sex marriage in Denver.

Sheila Schroeder, 43, and Kate Burns, 44, were led away in handcuffs by police when they refused to leave the Denver Clerk and Recorder's Office after being refused a marriage certificate.

"We're sorry for the disturbance, but we won't leave until we're provided with the same rights as everyone else," Burns told Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O'Malley.

Denver police Lt. James Henning said Burns and Schroeder would be issued a summons for trespassing and released.

Voters in 2006 amended the Colorado Constitution to permit marriage only between a man and a woman. A proposal to recognize "domestic partnerships" between same-sex couples was rejected in the same election.

The protest Monday was intended to put the issue back before the public, Schroeder said.

"Once you get kicked in the seat, you have to get back up and you have to give it another try," she said.

Deputy Clerk JoAnn Keys cited the 2006 amendment in refusing to issue a marriage certificate to Burns and Schroeder.

The couple then sat down on the floor in front of Keys' desk and refused to leave. They were arrested at 5 o'clock, when the office closed.

Earlier in the day, Schroeder said she and Burns should have the same rights as her parents and her straight siblings.

"I sit across the dinner table from my parents and my two brothers and my sister and their spouses and I see no difference between us," Schroeder said. "There isn't any difference between their commitment to their spouses and the commitment Kate and I have."

Schroeder, an Indiana native, teaches mass communication and journalism at the University of Denver. She has lived in Colorado for 10 years.

Burns is a Colorado native. She is a program assistant in DU's digital media studies program.

They have been together five years and live just across the city line in Englewood.

Schroeder and Burns can't get a marriage license in Denver, but if they worked for the city they could put their names on a domestic partnership registry, which extends employee benefits to same- sex partners but none of the legal rights married couples enjoy, such as automatic inheritance and legal authority to take part in medical care decisions.

Denver is one of three cities in Colorado offering that level of official recognition of same-sex unions. Marriage, however, is governed by state law.

Same-sex unions in Colorado

855,206 Coloradans voted in 2006 for Amendment 43, limiting marriage to one man and one woman; 699,030 people voted against the measure.

806,717 voters rejected Referendum I, which would have recognized domestic partnerships; it was backed by 734,385 voters.

893 couples are on Denver's domestic partnership registry.

3 major cities in Colorado provide employee benefits to domestic partners, primarily inclusion on health insurance policies: Aspen, Boulder and Denver.Sources: Colorado Secretary Of State, City Of Denver, Colorado Municipal League.

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