Maureen Elise Mackey was born in October of 1943 in Teaneck, New Jersey. She was a member of the Sisters of St. Mary, and later earned her bachelor’s degree and became a high school science teacher. After serving one of several missions to the Congo, she entered medical school in 1971 at the University of Texas. After several years as a respected physiatrist in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mackey returned to school in 1999 to earn her Masters of Divinity degree at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California.

Edmund Uehling is a real estate investor, politician, and supporter of the Las Vegas, Nevada gay community. He born on May 15, 1940 in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Uehling moved to Boulder City, Nevada in 1943 when the Bureau of Reclamation hired Uehling's father to work in Boulder City as a civil engineer. He received a bachelor's degree in accounting and a master's degree in public administration from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.