An interfaith group has organized a women’s forum to be held Monday at the Governor's residence at the Boettcher Mansion.
The Interfaith Alliance of Colorado is holding the 2025 Women’s Forum on Monday at 4 p.m., and attendees are supposed to dress the part in fascinators and tea-type apparel.
“This is a high tea event, so we are asking everyone to come dressed in whatever outfit makes them feel most fabulous, equipped with their favorite big hat or fascinator so that we can enjoy high tea in style,” said Alliance CEO Shara Smith.
But it’s not about fashion; it’s about discussion of antisemitism and Islamophobia, which refers to hostility to, prejudice toward, or discrimination against Jewish people and Muslims, respectively.
“This is a conversation that we started having over a year ago, and we are continuing the conversation, but specifically providing the space for women to come together and to talk and to discuss these two really important issues together,” Smith said.
The Alliance, with a staff of four based at First Baptist Church of Denver downtown, represents two dozen faith traditions and 400 congregations statewide in promoting religious freedom.
The two speakers are local women representing both of the faiths to be discussed: Rabbi Emily Hyatt and Azra Taslimi.
Hyatt is the incoming senior rabbi and CEO at Temple Emanuel in Denver and immediate past president of the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors Association. She’s also a board member of the Denver Jewish Day School and the Anti-Defamation League.
Taslimi is a Muslim community leader and a local civil rights and employment attorney representing people whose constitutional and statutory rights have been violated, and she’s the president-elect of the Colorado Women’s Bar Association.
Smith said Catholic, Baptist, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Mormon and Agnostic women are expected to show up, and that what’s different about this gathering is that the two topics will be discussed at the same meeting, rather than separately.
“We’re bringing together our partners from the Jewish and Muslim community to speak together at this event,” said Smith.
“It’s an incredibly diverse group that has signed up in terms of faith. They’ll have a separate session for antisemitism and a separate session for islamophobia,” she said.
The 4-6 p.m. meeting follows a similar gathering the group held in December, when the audience was co-ed. For this $15 event, people must pre-register.
“There’s a lot of excitement around the event, and also just a lot of hope in terms of being able to have such an important conversation and do it in a way that celebrates all of us,” Smith said.
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