Colorado

The Colorado State Senate on Friday gave the initial OK to a bill that would establish relationship recognition for same-sex couples after hours of debate and four attempts by Republican lawmakers to amend the bill to either establish or strengthen religious exemptions and halt how quickly the the bill becomes law. [ Read more → ]

DENVER — A civil unions law for same-sex couples was a top promise made by Colorado Democrats who took control of the state Legislature. [ Read more → ]

Colorado’s Religious Right is in the midst of a cakewalk. The prize? To find a political message that sticks with the state’s most sought-after, sometimes real, sometimes mythical unaffiliated “swing” voter with a Western-libertarian streak. [ Read more → ]

DENVER -- The Colorado Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved SB-11, the Colorado Civil Union Act. The bill, approved by a vote of 4-3, now moves to the Senate floor for a vote. [ Read more → ]

A bill to establish relationship recognition for Colorado same-sex couples passed its first legislative test today. The Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee gave initial approval to The Colorado Civil Union Act 3-2 on a party line vote. [ Read more → ]

A proposal to allow civil unions for gay couples is set to breeze through the Democratic controlled Colorado state legislature. Senate Democrats stand poised to give initial approval to a civil unions bill Wednesday as the plan comes before a legislative committee for the first time this session [ Read more → ]

LARKSPUR, Colo. -- The pastor of an independent Presbyterian church in suburban Colorado Springs, told a local television station that he equates homosexuals to child molesters, cannibals, and rapists. Pastor David Beuhner of Christ the King Church in Larkspur, Colo., has called for discrimination against... [ Read more → ]

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, in his third State of the State address, called for civil union legislation to be passed this year. [ Read more → ]

DENVER -- When the Colorado General Assembly opened for business on Jan. 9, a transition of political power from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party established one the most diverse political bodies in the state’s history — including eight openly gay and lesbian lawmakers... [ Read more → ]

Colorado gay and lesbian couples should be able to legally form civil unions May 1, after a bill creating them here is expected to be signed by the governor no later than mid-March. [ Read more → ]

They say third time’s a charm. And for Colorado’s gay and lesbian couples eager to have their relationships validated by the state, that just might be the case. [ Read more → ]

DENVER -- State Rep. Mark Ferrandino, an openly gay Democrat from Denver, was nominated to be the incoming Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives by his fellow state legislators on Thursday. [ Read more → ]

While there isn’t an explicit referendum on Tuesday’s ballot asking Colorado voters whether the state’s same-sex partners should have legal relationship recognition, the immediate fate of a bill that would establish such will be decided in less than 48 hours — two months before lawmakers meet to discuss the matter. [ Read more → ]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The Southern Poverty Law Center said it plans to file a lawsuit on Wednesday, Sept. 26, in Denver in the U.S. District Court for Colorado against a Falls Church, Va.-based anti-gay group over a direct-mail campaign that used an altered version of a New York gay couple's engagement photo without their knowledge or permission. [ Read more → ]

LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- A Denver-area bakery has refused to bake a wedding reception cake because the clients are gay, and according to another customer bakery does "not participate in making cakes for 'illegal' things." [ Read more → ]

DENVER -- A Colorado Republican vacancy committee is scheduled Saturday to interview — and is expected to appoint — a Denver gay man in order to fill an empty position on the November ballot. [ Read more → ]

DENVER -- A Colorado state Personnel Board judge this week said the Colorado State Patrol harbors a homophobic culture, and ordered the law enforcement agency to include sexual orientation among the topics covered in its diversity-training programs. [ Read more → ]

In an effort to elect a pro-equality legislature, supporters of the Colorado Civil Union Act have taken the first steps to replicate a successful strategy executed during the 2010 New York state Senate elections that paved the way to marriage equality legislation becoming law in the Empire State. [ Read more → ]

DENVER -- A Colorado Republican state senator who supported the Colorado Civil Union Act has lost her primary battle. State Rep. Randy Baumgardner (R-Cowdrey, Co.), beat state Sen. Jean White of Hayden by a 20-point spread. [ Read more → ]

The Denver Sheriff Department in January will roll out new policies regarding transgender inmates, The GLBT Community Center of Colorado announced Friday. The new 360-degree policies will include new practices from transport to booking and housing. [ Read more → ]