Tag: Gay Rights

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...

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.......

State Senate District 16 candidate Tim Leonard shocked the mainstream Republican Party and a lot of Democrats when he trounced moderate 5th Judicial District Attorney Mark Hurlbert at the GOP’s SD 16 assembly back in May. Portraying himself as pro-business and anti-big-government, Leonard seemingly rode a tea party wave of disaffection to a 71 to 29 percent victory over Hurlbert, who had the backing of mainstream Republicans like state Sen. Al White and Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry.

DENVER-- Speaking to a room of about 30 people at popular and gay-friendly restaurant Hamburger Mary's Wednesday, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff said that, unlike his primary opponent, Sen. Michael Bennet, he believed gay marriage was a federal question that shouldn't be left to the states to decide. Romanoff said has been a long champion of gay rights. He said he was not only more progressive than Bennet on this and other issues, but that he was the most progressive candidate running for national office in the country.

The number of people viewing gay relationships as morally acceptable crossed the 50 percent threshold this year reaching a near high water mark of 58 percent, according to a yearly survey taken by Gallup . Gallup notes that while a small majority of Americans are still against gay marriage and that opinions on acceptance of gay lifestyles has fluctuated over the years the trend has been towards acceptance.