Colorado
Colorado is home to over 13,000 same-sex couples. From 1990 to 2006, the number of same-sex couples in Colorado increased by 648%. Even though so many same-sex couples are living and coming out in Colorado, in 2006 Colorado voters approved an anti-marriage discriminatory constitutional amendment. State advocacy groups continue to work towards repealing marriage and relationship recognition discrimination and gaining the freedom to marry for the citizens of Colorado.
WHERE YOU CAN GO TO GET INVOLVED OR LEARN MORE:
Equal Rights Colorado
Equal Rights Colorado promotes equal rights for Colorado's GLBT people
and their families through non-partisan state legislative advocacy.
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LEGISLATIVE STATUS IN COLORADO:
Your Community—Colorado
Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
HRC presents resources, news, and the current marriage and
relationship recognition laws in each state.
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PUBLICATIONS:
Geographic Trends Among Same-Sex Couples in the U.S. Census and the
American Community Survey
Williams Institute
November 2007
Gary Gates at the Williams Institute released groundbreaking research
on the geographic trends among same-sex couples. The report finds the
biggest increases in Southern and Mountain states and states barring
legal acceptance of same-sex couples had larger percentage increases
in same-sex couples from 2000 to 2006.
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NEWS:
Marriage discrimination challenge set for hearing
The first legal challenge to Colorado’s anti-marriage constitutional amendment goes to court Wednesday, with the goal of unraveling Amendment 43, which voters passed in 2006. The main legal case is misdemeanor trespassing: Catherine Burns and Sheila Schroeder, a lesbian couple from Englewood, went to the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office on Sept. 24 to get a marriage license.
OPINION: In CO, Referendum I failed on an emotional level
Denver Post
November 19, 2006
While some may be afraid of appearing manipulative, the truth is we
humans enjoy emotions. And the emotions on the pro-Referendum I side
are no less powerful, real or honest than those expressed by the
opposition. We all, on both sides, feel the same emotions — love of
family, respect for traditions, and a shared hope for the future. Gay
men and women are not asking to be outside Colorado's values. They are
asking to be a part of them.
Gay and lesbian couples optimistic for vote
Denver Post
October 16, 2006
Referendum I would eliminate complex and pricey steps to obtain
medical and property rights, and would right wrongs in CO law in
several ways, particularly in what some lawyers call "default rules"
that determine basic property and decision-making rights.
Clergy condemn call to constitutionalize discrimination
Rocky Mountain News
September 25, 2006
"I believe homophobia, and not homosexuality, is the sin," said
Morran, minister of the First Unitarian Society of Denver. "Marry 'em
all; let God sort it out."
Colorado's gay families: we're not second-class citizens
Vail Daily
May 16, 2005
Two local couples invite a reporter into their homes and daily lives
to show Colorado residents the hardships gay couples must face because
they are denied the fundamental right to marriage. Both families hope
for more compassionate Colorado.
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Why Marriage Matters America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry.
By Evan Wolfson
Read reviews! Purchase the book or receive a signed copy as a thank you for your donation!
Read families’ stories about how marriage discrimination affects everyday life. These stories communicate, in concrete ways, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage hurts families and helps no one.
Start in The Marriage Basics to get short answers to your big questions about the freedom to marry, and learn more about the protections and responsibilities of marriage, the historical background for this civil rights movement, why separate is not equal, and so much more.
