ADL Honors Governor Ritter, Roz Duman with Civil Rights Awards

Date: January 29, 2009

On January 27, 2009, the Mountain States Office of ADL presented its 2009 Civil Rights Awards to Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., and community activist Roz Duman. Over 225 people attended the event, where both honorees spoke movingly about their work on behalf of civil and human rights. Their remarks were reported in the Denver Post.

Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. has devoted his career to public service, and has provided unwavering support for civil rights for all Coloradoans. He was Denver's District Attorney for twelve years, where he fought for the expansion and enforcement of hate crimes laws. Since his election in 2006 as Colorado's 41st Governor, Gov. Ritter has supported and signed into law expansions of Colorado’s employment discrimination, public accommodations and housing laws to include sexual orientation. Most recently, he opposed a ballot proposal that would have ended public affirmative actions programs in Colorado.

Roz Duman is the coordinator of the Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action, which she founded in 2006 to "end complacency towards and raise awareness of genocides past, present and future." The Coalition has sponsored conferences and exhibits and worked with state policymakers to expose and confront genocide around the world. Her current work caps a lifetime of commitment to civil rights and human understanding, including efforts on behalf of Jews emigrating from the former Soviet Union, Colorado’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Commission, the Denver Sister Cities Program, and the Holocaust Awareness Institute.

The Mountain States Office of the Anti-Defamation League has presented Civil Rights Awards to forty-four civil rights leaders in Colorado since 1982.