A DREAM DEFERRED

Once Promising, GOP Filibuster Kills Colorado’s Civil-Unions Bill Yet Again

Amid jeers of “shame on you” from LGBT advocates in the Colorado capitol, Republican House Speaker Frank McNulty (right) delivered the news last night that a civil unions bill would not reach a vote.

“We have reached an impasse,” McNulty told the AP. “It is unfortunate that there will be items that will not receive consideration by the House tonight because of this impasse.”

The bill had already cleared key Republican hurdles… Wherefore this “impasse”?

A good ol’ GOP stall-’em-so-they-can’t-vote filibuster, reports the AP:

Tuesday night’s announcement that the bill wouldn’t get a vote came hours after Democrats sought to block a GOP filibuster on civil unions. Republicans control the House on a 33-32 margin but enough members of their party supported the legislation to pass it.

Democrats used a procedural move to try to stop debate on other bills when it became clear Republicans were talking at length about other measures, delaying any action on civil unions.

Republicans responded by abruptly stopping floor work.

The bill needed to have an initial vote of the full House before midnight Tuesday or else the proposal would die. That’s because the Legislature adjourns Wednesday, so there wouldn’t be time for a final vote.

We can thank certain Republicans, like B.J. Nikkel, who changed her vote to allow the bill to get out of committee when it failed there so many times before.

But a few Republicans wasn’t enough to overcome the ones who apparently listened to the Biblical gay-bashers, and when it came time for GOP leadership to enact a stall on it, the sheep followed. Do they realize that their political game shattered the hopes and dreams for gay couples for some minor shred of recognition?

Maybe next year.

Photo: One Colorado

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