Post by Eric Kay, AFER Research Associate

The Republican-controlled Colorado House of Representatives is close to passing a civil unions bill approved last month by the State Senate.  One Republican lawmaker, Rep. Don Beezley, explained why he decided to support the measure:

“I think it’s been an evolutionary process of respecting and learning to appreciate the fact that, regardless of whether an individual understands the nature of the relationships and the situation, that it really comes down to basic equity and fairness for a human being.”

Supporters of the civil unions bill have until midnight Wednesday, when the Colorado House of Representatives adjourns, to pass the legislation.

Twenty years ago, Colorado made national headlines when it adopted Amendment 2, an anti-gay state constitutional amendment that the United States Supreme Court struck down in the landmark 1996 case of Romer v. Evans.  Romer played a central role in the recent decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Perry v. Brown, AFER’s constitutional challenge to Proposition 8.