DENVER-
The House on Wednesday approved and sent to the Senate a bill that would allow same-sex partners and other unmarried couples to adopt children together.
House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, said the bill would allow two unmarried people, including a grandparent and another relative, to adopt a child under a process called second-parent adoption.
Current state law allows individuals to adopt a child, but not their same-sex partners. Married couples are already allowed to adopt each other’s children as stepparents.
Republicans said the bill is an attempt to put in statute a measure rejected by voters in November, but Madden rejected those complaints, saying her bill does not recognize domestic partnerships.
Voters backed a constitutional ban on gay marriage and rejected the domestic partnerships plan, Referendum I.
