The Colorado House Judiciary Committee voted 8-3 to advance a civil unions bill Thursday evening, after more than five hours of testimony. Rep. Carole Murray (R-Castle Rock) was the lone Republican to cross the aisle and support the measure.
SB 11 passed the Colorado Senate in mid-February, by a vote of 34-21.
A civil-unions bill was torpedoed last year by House Republicans, but the November elections saw Democrats take control and make openly gay Rep. Mark Ferrandino as Speaker.
The bill is expected to pass the full House and be signed by Democratic governor John Hickenlooper.
conversationchamber.com
That’s a pretty big move for CO.
T7
@conversationchamber.com: Not really. We just legalied recreational marijuana, and a disproportionate amount of transplants to Colorado come frm California. The demographcs of the state are changing fast, and that’s clear from voting patterns over the last several election cycles. If the Supreme Court doesn’t act first, it’s a good bet there will be a ballot measure for marriage in 2014. Civil unions are so 2010.
Cam
This is where the GOP bullshit breaks down.
In states where they have some power, they aren’t even in favor of Civil Unions.
Thanks for reminding us what bigots the party is Colorado!
Merv
@Cam: Republicans have fought against everything. They’ve opposed marriage, civil unions, hate crimes laws, open service, ENDA, anti-bullying laws, workplace protections for government workers, repeal of laws prohibiting ANY gay person to immigrate (not just spouses), and repeal of sodomy laws. To this day, there are Republican lawmakers working to reinstate unconstitutional sodomy laws and send gay people to prison. That’s why I laugh when Republicans ask why gay people can’t just accept civil unions and leave marriage alone. It’s not something they ever put on the table, and now we’re unreasonable for not accepting it!
1EqualityUSA
We must NEVER forget this GOP attitude towards us. The real power lies in the Supreme Court and must NEVER allow a Republican to pick another Scalia as long as we live.
MuscleModelBlog.com
Maybe what happens in this swing state will be a precursor for what will happen in other states as well…