DENVER-
The House gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill that would allow same-sex partners and other unmarried people to adopt children together over the objections of Republicans who said voters have already spoken on the issue.
House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, said the bill would allow two non-married people, including a grandparent and another relative, to adopt a child under a process called second-parent adoption.
The bill faces a third reading before going to the Senate.
Current state law allows gay individuals to adopt a child, but not their same-sex partners. Married couples are already allowed to adopt each other’s children as stepparents.
Madden said children with two legal parents are more economically secure and have a greater chance of getting access to health insurance and benefits if one parent dies.
Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, said the bill was an attempt to put in statute a measure rejected by voters in November.
Voters backed a constitutional ban on gay marriage and rejected the domestic partnerships plan, Referendum I.
“This is an attempt to redefine families in Colorado,” Lambert said.
Madden said “these families exist, whether you like it or not.”
Lawyers said they have worked with same-sex couples on estate planning and said the current law doesn’t ensure that their children will remain with them if the other dies.
Three others states already have similar second-parent adoption laws. The District of Columbia and seven other states also allow similar second-parent adoptions under court rulings. Trial courts in some jurisdictions in 15 other states also allow it, said Pat Steadman, lobbyist for Equal Rights Colorado, which supports the bill.
Colorado is one of four states where appellate courts have ruled that second-parent adoption isn’t allowed under current law.
