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A year later, Colorado House committee expected to clear civil union bill sans drama

A year later, Colorado House committee expected to clear civil union bill sans drama

On a stuffy May 3, 2012, Brad Clark, executive director of One Colorado, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization paced outside the Old Supreme Court Chamber at the Capitol.

He was flanked by his lobbying team Will Coyne and Adam Eichberg.

Executive Director of One Colorado Brad Clark, left, meets with the group's lobbyist May 3, 2012, while a Republican House committee discusses the Colorado Civil Union Act. Photo by Sean Mullins
Executive Director of One Colorado Brad Clark, left, meets with the group’s lobbyist May 3, 2012, while a Republican House committee discusses the Colorado Civil Union Act. Photo by Sean Mullins

Down the hall, Mindy Barton, the GLBT Community Center’s attorney and director of the legal advocacy program, checked messages on her Blackberry.

Around the corner, a troupe from the Colorado Log Cabin Republicans waited anxiously to testify on the Colorado Civil Union Act, a bill that if enacted would create relationship recognition for same-sex couples.

Inside the standing-room only chamber, activists for and against medical marijuana were testifying on a DUI bill, while those with an opinion on whether Colorado should become one of more than a growing number of states to establish sanctioned relationships for gay and lesbian couples waited with baited breath for their turn with the Republican House Judiciary Committee.

The fate of the bill, at least in that moment, rested with one woman, with one vote: state Rep. B.J. Nikkel, a Loveland Republican, who a year earlier had sided with her party and voted against the legislation sponsored by gay Denver Democrats state Sen. Pat Steadman and Rep. Mark Ferrandino.

Earlier in the day, a rumors that not only was Nikkel, then a member of the GOP House leadership team, wavering on the bill, but she had already decided to support it, leaked by members of her own party

Throughout the morning, Nikkel maintained she hadn’t made up her mind and was waiting to hear testimony. But later reports from various news organizations and sources interviewed by Out Front, confirm Nikkel’s mind was made up well before Ferrandino ever uttered the words “critical legal protections.”

Whether anyone or everyone knew how Nikkel would vote before the committee hearing, the collective mood was tense. Had she voted against the bill, activists would be left to start all over in 2013, if she voted for it, the clock would begin ticking louder and louder as time ran out for the bill to reach the full floor of the House where — despite having enough votes to be sent to the governor — it would face a whole new set of challenges: amendments, filibusters and most terrifyingly: the unknown.

In the end, Nikkel voted for the bill. Supporters’ fear turned to jubilation. What had been a Herculean task now seemed like water under the bridge. But for couples like Fran and Anna Simon, who testified in support of the bill, there was not a happy ending.

Just as new life had been breathed into the legislation, the 2012 Colorado Civil Union Act would be killed, this time, by a haphazardly orchestrated maneuver by House GOP Speaker of the House Frank McNulty to run out the clock on the bill in the last days of the regular session.

Members of the Colorado Log Cabin Republicans Troy Ard, left, Michael Carr and Alexander Hornaday wait outside a committee room May 3, 2012, during a discussion of the Colorado Civil Union Act. Photo by Sean Mullins
Members of the Colorado Log Cabin Republicans Troy Ard, left, Michael Carr and Alexander Hornaday wait outside a committee room May 3, 2012, during a discussion of the Colorado Civil Union Act. Photo by Sean Mullins

This year, history is certain not to repeat itself.

After Republicans were dealt a major setback at the November polls, the Colorado House of Representatives and its panels that clear bills before full debates by the chamber are now in control. Additionally, one of legislation’s sponsors, Ferrandino, is Speaker of the House.

The bill is also sponsored by state Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge. This year’s version of the bill also has a Republican co-sponsor, state Rep. Cheri Gerou of Evergreen.

The worst that could happen for the bill when the House Judiciary Committee hears testimony at 1:30 p.m., today, is another round of attempts by Republicans to amend the bill to strengthen its religious exceptions.

A rally in support of the bill is also scheduled for noon, today.

Last month, during a Senate debate that ultimately led to the chamber passing the bill, Republicans failed four times to amend the proposed legislation in name of religious freedoms.

Steadman called it justifying discrimination.

After the Democratically controlled committee OKs the bill, it is expected to be routed through two other committees before having a full debate by the House and signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper.

As written, the legislation will become law May 1.

The only thing anyone is sweating now is making sure Colorado gay and lesbian couples get to their county clerk and recorder on time.

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