An initiative that would ask voters to effectively prohibit domestic partnerships can proceed toward the ballot after the Colorado Supreme Court decided Monday to deny a challenge by gay-rights advocates.
Opponents had claimed that the proposed wording, which would prohibit the state from recognizing any legal status “similar to that of marriage,” was vague and violated requirements that an initiative address just a single issue.
But the court, which had shot down an immigration initiative on single-issue grounds, this time found the measure satisfactory.
“I was confident that the letter of the law demanded that they uphold it,” said state Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, who heads the initiative drive. “Now we can put this behind us and continue on the course we’ve been on – to distribute petitions, collect signatures and work toward the required number” for the November ballot.
Lundberg said that his group had distributed 1,750 petitions so far and that the push to collect nearly 68,000 signatures by the Aug. 7 deadline “is a big hill to climb with not a lot of time to do it.”
Meanwhile, Coloradans for Fairness and Equality has continued to collect signatures for its initiative specifically designed to negate Lundberg’s. Those efforts may join two other measures already on the ballot – one for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and the other a referendum on domestic partnerships.
“We think that part of their strategy is to try to create as much confusion as they can,” said Sean Duffy, spokesman for CFE. “We’ll make it very clear to the voters exactly what the potential intended and unintended consequences are of such a broad, extreme initiative.”
