“‘Gay’ is a left-wing socio-political construct designed to create grounds for fundamental rights [based on] whimsical capricious desires,” said Ryan Sorba, chairman of the Young Conservatives of California. “Gay identity does not exist.”
Openly gay Chairman of the Colorado Federation of College Republicans Troy Ard is lobbying colleagues and friends to support Senator Pat Steadman’s same-sex civil unions bill making its way through the state legislature. Ard’s support for the bill is personal, political and ideological. He wants to enjoy equal rights under the law as a gay American; he believes the Republican brand would benefit enormously by embracing gay rights; and he believes Americans should always be pushing their government to expand individual liberties.
Four out of five Coloradans under 30 support same-sex civil unions. In four years those young people will cast one of every three votes cast in Colorado. “When we vote, people listen,” said one of the speakers from youth-voter group NewEra Colorado at a Wednesday rally at the University of Colorado Denver in support of the civil unions bill introduced in the state legislature by Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, last month. “We want equality and the time is now. We want the next generation to never even have to think about this. They’ll just see that everyone is the same.”
Today, Rep. Jared Polis, D-CO, and U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-MN held a press conference to announce that they have reintroduced legislation that would help protect public school students from bullying, harassment, and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
In advance of a committee hearing scheduled for Monday on state Senator Pat Steadman’s civil unions bill, Colorado faith leaders held a press conference at the capitol Thursday expressing support for the bill. Their presence at the capitol was frank acknowledgment of the way opposition to the legal recognition of rights for gay domestic partners has long been made on the basis of religion. In fact, religion stands on both sides of this issue, they said, and the issue, especially as addressed in Steadman’s bill, is about constitutional rights.
Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family has drafted legislation for lawmakers in states around the country that would legally protect employers and landlords who turn away gay applicants based solely on the fact that they’re gay. In some cases, Focus on the Family legislation would nullify already-existing anti-discrimination laws meant to guard against discrimination on the basis of sexuality and gender.
President Obama Wednesday directed Attorney General Eric Holder to stop battling legal attacks on the federal Defense of Marriage Act, saying he believes the Act unconstitutionally discriminates against gay couples. It’s a move many Obama supporters have anticipated for years with diminishing hope as the attorney general’s office fought back a series of challenges to the Act.
Maryland is poised to legalize same-sex marriage, possibly in the next few weeks. A bill on the Senate floor, SB 116 (PDF), would revise Maryland’s marriage code, changing the phrase, “Only a marriage between a man and a woman is…
Denver Democratic state Senator Pat Steadman is sponsoring a bill that would make same-sex civil unions legal in Colorado. The move is being cheered as long overdue by gay rights supporters, who have been stymied in efforts to win equality by a constitutional amendment that outlaws gay marriage in the state. In weighing whether or not to introduce the legislation this summer, Steadman told the Colorado Independent that “promoting a lesser status for gay people is not ideal” but that, in the short term, “people could really benefit from civil unions.”
“On behalf of the medical community, I denounce Ken Buck’s comments. We feel he should retract his statements. Science does not support his view…. I feel strongly that we should not be giving fodder for extremist ideology with statements contrary…
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