Opponents, including Focus on the Family, said the bill would have serious consequences, such as opening up Colorado public restrooms and locker rooms to all genders & transgender people, exposing children and women to sexual predators.
The governor's spokesperson said opponents were running a campaign of misinformation: "All this does, is it brings across-the-board consistency to existing anti-discrimination laws."
Legislative Outcome:Passed Senate 20-15-0 on 4/21/08; Passed House 38-26-1 on 5/2; Majority Leader Alice Madden voted Yes; signed by Gov. Ritter on 5/29.
Opponents, including Focus on the Family, said the bill would have serious consequences, such as opening up Colorado public restrooms and locker rooms to all genders & transgender people, exposing children and women to sexual predators.
The governor's spokesperson said opponents were running a campaign of misinformation: "All this does, is it brings across-the-board consistency to existing anti-discrimination laws."
Legislative Outcome:Passed Senate 20-15-0 on 4/21/08; Passed House 38-26-1 on 5/2; Rep. Amy Stephens voted No; signed by Gov. Ritter on 5/29.
Opponents, including Focus on the Family, said the bill would have serious consequences, such as opening up Colorado public restrooms and locker rooms to all genders & transgender people, exposing children and women to sexual predators.
The governor's spokesperson said opponents were running a campaign of misinformation: "All this does, is it brings across-the-board consistency to existing anti-discrimination laws."
Legislative Outcome:Passed Senate 20-15-0 on 4/21/08; Passed House 38-26-1 on 5/2; Speaker Andrew Romanoff voted Yes; signed by Gov. Ritter on 5/29.
Opponents, including Focus on the Family, said the bill would have serious consequences, such as opening up Colorado public restrooms and locker rooms to all genders & transgender people, exposing children and women to sexual predators.
The governor's spokesperson said opponents were running a campaign of misinformation: "All this does, is it brings across-the-board consistency to existing anti-discrimination laws."
Legislative Outcome:Passed Senate 20-15-0 on Apr/21/08; Passed House 38-26-1 on May/2/08; signed by Gov. Ritter on May/29/08.
Corey Gardner: Mixed. Sees marriage as only between a man and woman, but calls same-sex marriage "the law of the land, and it is important that we treat everyone with dignity and respect."
John Hickenlooper: Yes. "If all people are created equal, then by extension of law, logic, and love, every adult couple should also have the freedom to join in marriage."
"I feel lucky, in a sense, to be gay--which is something weird for me to say given the number of years I felt like that was an albatross around my neck and thinking it was going to keep me from leading a fulfilling life," Baer says while seated beside his husband, climate economist Brian Walsh, in their Five Points home. "I feel like I'm fortunate to have grown up gay in a place"--he spent his formative years in Littleton--"that wasn't yet hospitable to LGBT people. Obviously, there's still work to do. But that shaped me in ways that's been a driving force behind my human-rights work, because it made me care about creating the ability for people to live lives of their own choosing."
A: No.
Q: Should unmarried same-sex couples in Colorado have the same legal rights and benefits as married heterosexual couples?
A: Yes.
At the bill signing, the governor recalled a time when he promoted a gay employee to a manager position at his brewing company in the early '90s, despite complaints from customers. "They said they weren't going to come to our business anymore," the governor said. "One of our waitresses was standing beside me, and she said, 'You know, that's not going to bother any of us at all.'"
After signing the bill, Hickenlooper said, "It is a moment that the whole community has waited for, for so long." [Senate Bill 2, passed Senate 23-12 April 26, 2012; bill died in Committee on May 15, 2012; then passed in 2013].
The commenter suggests the ad was the work of wealthy Colorado gay-rights activist Tim Gill who, the theory goes, is supporting Buck because last year Buck chose to prosecute the murder of transgender Greeley resident Angie Zapata as a hate crime. The prosecution was a victory for the Zapata family and the gay community that rallied around the trial
Buck said, "I do not support the repeal of don't-ask-don't-tell. I think it is a policy that makes a lot of sense." The don't-ask-don't-tell policy itself was instituted during the Clinton years and prohibits inquiries into the sexual orientation of military members. The current policy states that a person who makes their sexuality known is subject to discharge under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The Colorado Independent, in a story titled "Coloradans mostly agree with Bennet not Buck on don't-ask-don't-tell," reported that the majority of Coloradans supported lifting the ban. However, Buck's opinion appears to be more in line with the majority of generals and service-members.
Asked by the host to elaborate on a statement he made in an earlier debate about gays in the military, Buck said he believes sexual orientation is a choice. Buck went on to say, "I think that birth has an influence over it, like alcoholism and some other things, but I think that basically you have a choice."
Bennet jumped on Buck's remark. "I absolutely believe he's outside the mainstream of views on this," Bennet said.
After the debate, a Buck spokesman said Buck did not mean to imply with his alcoholism comparison that Buck believes homosexuality is a disease. Buck told The Denver Post after the debate that he "wasn't talking about being gay as a disease" but also said of his remark that "there's no doubt there will probably be a commercial on something like that" from Democrats.
BUCK: I do.
Q: Based on what?
BUCK: Based on what?
Q: Yeah, why do you believe that?
BUCK: Well, I guess, you can choose who your partner is.
Q: You don't think it's something that's determined at birth?
BUCK: I think that birth has an influence over like alcoholism and some other things, but I think that basically you, you have a choice.
Q: [to Bennet]: Does that put him outside the mainstream of views on this?
BENNET: I absolutely believe he's outside the mainstream of views on this.
Thank you for your response. Ken may have mis-spoke, but his desire is to serve the people of Colorado period. As the prosecuting attorney for Weld County, Ken was the only DA in the country to try a hate crime that involved a transgender individual and win. Too often comments are misunderstood and taken out of context, but the hope is that you will realize Ken's commitment to Colorado and its citizens.
Buck said the campaign mistakes he made four years ago, including the controversial remark comparing gays to alcoholics, was a mistake he would not repeat again. "I was unprepared for the question, and I answered it in a shorthanded way, and I shouldn't have answered it," said Buck. "I'm a better candidate than I was four years ago. I will not implode, though I don't agree with the premise I did implode."
Buck said, "I do not support the repeal of don't-ask-don't-tell. I think it is a policy that makes a lot of sense." The don't-ask-don't-tell policy itself was instituted during the Clinton years and prohibits inquiries into the sexual orientation of military members. The current policy states that a person who makes their sexuality known is subject to discharge under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The Colorado Independent, in a story titled "Coloradans mostly agree with Bennet not Buck on don't-ask-don't-tell," reported that the majority of Coloradans supported lifting the ban. However, Buck's opinion appears to be more in line with the majority of generals and service-members.
A: I found that event to be incredibly inspiring. It had the sense of a Colorado where everybody belongs--where people were inclusive about differences, where everybody was not only tolerated, but supported. I believe there's a way to both be different and be connected, and I think what you saw was a real strong engagement. I saw a bunch of my neighbors there who I know for a fact have not been engaged in politics before. They're just not political people, but they are people who feel that the brand their country has been given is not who they are, and they want to take ownership over this state speaking for them and speaking for their values and their background. This election was a wake-up call that we can't fundamentally leave the public square for other people to solve.
At the bill signing, the governor recalled a time when he promoted a gay employee to a manager position at his brewing company in the early '90s, despite complaints from customers. "They said they weren't going to come to our business anymore," the governor said. "One of our waitresses was standing beside me, and she said, 'You know, that's not going to bother any of us at all.'"
After signing the bill, Hickenlooper said, "It is a moment that the whole community has waited for, for so long." [Senate Bill 2, passed Senate 23-12 April 26, 2012; Sen. Mike Johnston co-sponsored SB2 and voted YES; bill died in Committee on May 15, 2012; then passed in 2013].
Without such language, opponents argue the bill expands gay rights at the expense of religious rights: "Slavery was not abolished for blacks by enslaving whites," said Sen. Owen Hill (R-Colorado Springs.)
Supporters of civil unions compare religious exemptions to Jim Crow laws. They say anybody providing a public service should have to treat gay couples equally.
"Full-legal rights for same-sex unions - no discriminations based on relationship profiling."
No change, he added Monday.
My faith is the most important thing in my life.
Unfortunately, across the country there is a war on religious liberty, as Christian-based schools, businesses and non-profit groups are being fined or shut down simply for abiding by their Faith and religious values.
At the bill signing, the governor recalled a time when he promoted a gay employee to a manager position at his brewing company in the early '90s, despite complaints from customers. "They said they weren't going to come to our business anymore," the governor said. "One of our waitresses was standing beside me, and she said, 'You know, that's not going to bother any of us at all.'"
After signing the bill, Hickenlooper said, "It is a moment that the whole community has waited for, for so long." [Senate Bill 2, passed Senate 23-12 April 26, 2012; Sen. Tim Neville voted NO; bill died in Committee on May 15, 2012; then passed in 2013].
"I've been a lifelong Republican, but I couldn't get there," he said. "My son's a West Point cadet. And the way (Trump) spoke about women was very concerning."
Still, Mitchell said Trump has his respect and he applauded him for putting together "a terrific Cabinet."
Opponents, including Focus on the Family, said the bill would have serious consequences, such as opening up Colorado public restrooms and locker rooms to all genders & transgender people, exposing children and women to sexual predators.
The governor's spokesperson said opponents were running a campaign of misinformation: "All this does, is it brings across-the-board consistency to existing anti-discrimination laws."
Legislative Outcome:Passed Senate 20-15-0 on 4/21/08; Passed House 38-26-1 on 5/2; Rep. Victor Mitchell voted No; signed by Gov. Ritter on 5/29.
Stapleton's ancestral family has a history of public service dating back more than a century, something Stapleton touted in campaign ads. He noted his great grandfather served 5 terms as Denver's mayor and helped build the first civic center in Colorado, and the first municipal airport in the Mile High City.
But Benjamin Stapleton's legacy also includes a dark chapter. He was a high ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920's, which had infiltrated both parties and virtually all levels of government.
Stapleton says he's not his great grandfather--he was born 25 years after the elder Stapleton died--but he hasn't expressly denounced Benjamin Stapleton's involvement in the KKK, until now. "I categorically condemn racism of all forms and I categorically condemn hate organizations and they will have no place in my administration as governor," he said.
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| 2016 Presidential contenders on Civil Rights: | |||
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Republicans:
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX) Carly Fiorina(CA) Gov.John Kasich(OH) Sen.Marco Rubio(FL) Donald Trump(NY) |
Democrats:
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY) Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT) 2016 Third Party Candidates: Roseanne Barr(PF-HI) Robert Steele(L-NY) Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA) | ||
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