Whereas Clela Ann Rorex (referred to in this preamble as Clela ) was born in Denver on July 23, 1943; Whereas Clela's mother, Ruby Rorex, was a dance and theater teacher, and her father, Cecil Rorex, served for 30 years as clerk of Routt County, Colorado, where Clela grew up in Steamboat Springs; Whereas Clela earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1973 and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Colorado Denver in 1981; Whereas, in January 1975, at the age of 31, Clela became Boulder County Clerk and Recorder; Whereas, in 1975, when a same-sex couple requested a marriage license in Boulder County, Clela consulted the assistant district attorney and learned that Colorado State laws did not specifically prohibit granting a marriage license to a same-sex couple; Whereas, as a newly elected county clerk, Clela issued a marriage license to Dave McCord and Dave Zamora, the first marriage license issued to a same-sex couple in the United States; Whereas Clela was quoted in 2016 as saying, After having been so deeply involved in the women’s rights movements, who was I to then deny a right to anyone else? It wasn’t my job to legislate morality. ; Whereas, after issuing the first marriage license to a same-sex couple in 1975, Clela issued 5 more marriage licenses to same-sex couples over the next month; Whereas national news outlets circulated Clela’s groundbreaking story, after which she reported receiving a deluge of death threats and condemnation in hundreds of letters and phone calls to the Boulder County Clerk’s office; Whereas, despite the threats, Clela continued her advocacy efforts on behalf of the LGBTQ community, including by marching, volunteering, and donating to LGBTQ efforts for decades