Service of “Pride and Gratitude” in OKC

Cathedral of Hope, OKC, is proud to host Oklahoma marriage equality proponents, Mary Bishop, Sharon Baldwin, Susan Barton and Gay Phillips, at its “Community Service of Pride and Gratitude,” on Pride Sunday, June 22, at 3pm. These four courageous and tenacious women are plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit Bishop, et al. v. United States, in which Judge Terrance Kern struck down as unconstitutional Oklahoma’s 2004 ban on same sex marriage.

Filed in 2004, the Bishop lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s anti-marriage equality amendment. After the case sat for nine years on the Court’s docket, Judge Kern struck down the ban in January of this year, basing his decision in large part on the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2013 decision in United States v. Windsor, which struck down Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The Bishop case and its companion case out of Utah, Kitchen v. Herbert, are currently on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Bishop, Baldwin, Barton and Phillips will be speaking at COH-OKC’s Community Pride service before the Parade, and will discuss their experiences fighting for marriage equality on behalf of all Oklahoma LGBTQ Citizens. The four women will then serve as Grand Marshalls of the Pride Parade.

Cathedral of Hope invites all to join at the 3pm service before the parade, which kicks off at 6pm. The COH service will be held in the sanctuary of Mayflower Congregational Church, 3901 N.W. 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73112.

The Gayly – June 22, 2014 @ 8am