The Colorado House of Representatives on Friday tentatively approved a proposal to give same-sex partners legal rights in Colorado, overriding Republican complaints that the measure would degrade marriage.
The next vote on House Bill 1344 could send it to the Senate. The bill proposes putting the question of legal rights for domestic partners on the November ballot.
If the legislation from Nederland Democrat Rep. Tom Plant makes it out of the General Assembly and prevails next fall, same-sex partners in Colorado would receive government certificates conferring the same contractual rights and obligations that come with a marriage certificate, regarding the custody of children, inheritance, the responsibility for financial support and other issues.
But the bill would not change the state’s existing definition of marriage as something that exists between a man and a woman, Plant told the protesting Republicans.
“This doesn’t address the issue of marriage at all, except” to explicitly say that that definition doesn’t change, Plant said. “I’m assuming you don’t have a conflict with that.”
But the Republicans were not dissuaded from their attack, which took up most of the morning and saw several unsuccessful GOP amendments seeking to either kill or weaken the bill.
“What a joke we are trying to press upon the culture, by changing the definition of marriage,” said Berthoud Republican Rep. Kevin Lundberg, Plant’s most energetic opponent Friday. “What is wrong with doing what we can to ensure that children have a mother and a father for their family?”
He said he found the legislation “offensive.”
One Democrat went to the microphone to say it was Lundberg himself, who also called the bill “pathetic,” who was offensive.
“What’s pathetic is that when people are so filled with hate that they have to be dishonest about what’s in this bill!” said Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, after Lundberg spoke.
Pommer was gaveled down by Rep. Angie Paccione, D-Fort Collins, but Republicans complained that Pommer crossed the line of decorum.
Gov. Bill Owens told reporters Friday that he hadn’t been following Plant’s bill very closely, but that he expected to be against the proposal for domestic partnerships.
“I think it’s pretty fair to say I’ll be on the opposite side of that,” he said.
The bill does not require Owens’ signature to get on the ballot. The governor has not decided whether he would campaign against the proposal, he said.
Staff writer Jim Hughes can be reached at 303-820-1244 or jhughes@denverpost.com.
