This isn’t over: Supporters of civil union bill vow the fight has just begun

The fight for marriage equality has only just begun, backers of a civil union bill said after a Republican controlled committee killed it March 31.

“This isn’t the end,” said One Colorado Executive Director Brad Clark. “Every option is on the table. There are thousands of gays and lesbians building families around the state and we need these protections, and we’re going to do everything we can.”

Clark said One Colorado, a statewide LGBT advocacy organization, will continue to build on its momentum. The organization built a coalition representing nearly one million Coloradans.

As early as April 1, it was planning its next move.

“We’re regrouping,” spokeswoman Jessica Cook Woodrum said. “The next natural question is ‘where do we go from here?’”

Cook Woodrum said One Colorado would be reaching out to its coalition of 100 organizations and community leaders to strategize.

Both sponsors of the bill, the Colorado Civil Union Act, Sen. Pat Steadman and Rep. Mark Ferrandino, said they will continue to fight until equality is established for the LGBT community.

Their bill, which would have allowed two unmarried Coloradans – regardless of gender – to apply for most of the legal protections and responsibilities spouses have, was killed, 6-5, by the House Judiciary Committee after it had passed the Senate with bipartisan support.

Ferrandino said he had enough votes to pass it in the House if it reached the full floor.

The bill was the first organized attempt for marriage equality in Colorado since 2006 when voters approved an amendment defining marriage between a man and a woman and rejected a referendum that would have established domestic partnerships.

“I think there was pressure put up by (Republican) leadership to make sure this bill never saw it out of committee,” Ferrandino said.

Speaker of the House Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, had promised a fair hearing. And while Ferrandino said the Judiciary Committee was appropriate, he believed the deck was stacked against the bill.

Two state Republican House members on the committee said they voted against the bill because they didn’t want to circumvent the voters.

A third refused to answer questions from Out Front Colorado.

Rep. B.J. Nikkel of Loveland and Rep. Mark Waller of Colorado Springs said despite the seven hours of testimony from Colorado gays and lesbians – several from their districts – they wouldn’t go against the will of the voters.

Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling, who paused for almost ten seconds before voting, and could barely raise his head to eye level as he cast his vote, refused to answer why he voted ‘no.’

The three representatives made up half the Republican voting bloc on the committee. Other Republicans voting against the bill that would have established civil unions in Colorado were Reps. Bob Gardner, Mark Baker and Brian DelGrosso.

Democrats who voted for the bill were Reps. Crisanta Duran, Daniel Kagan, Pete Lee, Clair Levy and Su Ryden.

Nikkel said she had several conversations with both Ferrandino and co-sponsor lesbian lawmaker Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge. Both lobbied her extensively.

“My feeling about it was – I felt they should have taken this back to the voters,” Nikkel said. “That would have been the appropriate thing to do, so the appearance, the perception would not be to them that they were circumvented.”

Ferrandino cried foul.

“If that was their message, we should have sent it back to the people, they had a chance to support an amendment and not a single one of the Republicans voted for it,” he said.

Ryden, of Arapahoe County, had introduced an amendment prior to the committee’s vote that would have sent the question to the electorate. It died 7-2.

“I think they’re just talking outside both sides of their mouths,” Ferrandino said.

Waller also said he wasn’t convinced there was a big enough distinction between “marriage” and “civil union.”

“Here’s what it comes down to,” he said after his vote, “Voters voted in 2006 to say marriage was between a man and a woman. It wasn’t articulated to me well enough what a civil union provides and what marriage provides.”

During testimony both Ferrandino and lawyer for the GLBT Community Center of Colorado Mindy Barton explained civil unions differ from marriage in a variety of ways including federal rights, reciprocity and taxes.

Nikkel commended Ferrandino and Steadman.

“I understand their hearts on the issue,” she said.

Ferrandino doesn’t see it that way.

“It’s tough to handle when members you work with, you respect, you consider friends, won’t stand up and make sure you have the same protections they do,” he said.

The gay Denver Democrats said Coloradans will not stand for the influence of far-Right.

“I think the far-Right fringe of the Republican party is going to make them (GOP lawmakers) do more stupid things,” Steadman said. “(Those who voted against the civil union bill) hung their heads in shame.”

Ferrandino said no one is giving up.

“This is going to win,” he said. “What we saw in this chamber was we couldn’t get one Republican to stand up against the far-Right, when 72 percent of Coloradans support this legislation.”

Ferrandino believes several of the Republicans who voted against the bill actually wanted to, but feared retribution from their party.

“What worries me is that there were people on that committee who, in their hearts, support this legislation,” he said. “But, they were unable to take the political risk to vote the bill out of committee.”

Ferrandino said relationship recognition will come to Colorado.

“This bill, pass or fail, doesn’t change who we are,” he said. “But those seats (on the committee) will.”