Last Wednesday, the 70th Colorado General Assembly began their session at the Colorado Capitol.
There are multiple issues on the table that need to be dealt with in moving Colorado forward, the most important of which is to finally pass a law recognizing civil unions between same-sex couples in the state.
It is time for Colorado to fully recognize the rights of its LGBT couples like eight other states from New Hampshire to Hawaii already do. There is no good reason to withhold the dignity that comes with being a recognized couple in the eyes of the state and the financial benefits heterosexual couples can utilize for taxation.
With national sentiment changing so quickly on this issue, Colorado should join the other progressive states that have already adopted this practice.
This session of the General Assembly holds promise for passing this legislation. Unlike in Washington, where political gridlock between the Democrat-controlled Senate and Republican-controlled House of Representatives will undoubtedly make any significant legislation difficult to pass, the Democrats now control both houses and the governor’s office in Colorado. Democrats have traditionally been far more supportive of gay rights than their GOP counterparts have.
This is also a historic moment for Colorado in that, following the 2012 elections, Mark Ferrandino will be the Speaker of the House.
Ferrandino is the first openly gay speaker in the body’s history. Some progress has been made on this issue in the previous few years. The Designated Beneficiary Agreements Act of 2009, which went into effect on July 1 of that year, granted unmarried couples in Colorado some limited rights. These included making funeral arrangements for the partner, receiving death benefits, and inheriting property without specification in a will.
In February of 2011, Representative Mark Ferrandino and Senator Pat Steadman, both openly gay Democrats, proposed the Colorado Civil Union Act.
The bill addressed financial responsibility of partners, medical decision-making, inheritance, the ability to designate a partner as retirement beneficiary, family leave benefits and the ability to adopt the child of a partner, among other things.
Following its Valentine’s Day introduction, it was supported by nearly every Democrat in both houses of the Colorado Legislature. It was brought to a vote in the Senate on March 24, where it received unanimous Democratic support and three Repulican votes to pass 23-12.
However, it was assigned to the Judiciary Committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. It was defeated in a 5-6 party line vote, and was never brought to the floor for a vote.
Had the bill reached the floor, it was expected to pass handily, based on commitments from several House Republicans, and then have been signed into law by Governor Hickenlooper.
With Ferrandino taking the gavel from former Republican House Speaker Frank McNulty, who was instrumental in ensuring the failure of the civil union bill, the tables have turned dramatically in favor of marriage equality.
It is time for Colorado to finally grant same-sex couples the respect they deserve by recognizing their right to civil unions.
