Mike Johnston on Civil Rights

Co-sponsored 2012 SB2: supported same-sex marriage

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].

Workplace discrimination law includes LGBTQ

100% from Colorado LGBTQ group

Participated in Women's March in Denver

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.