HRC Blog

Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Civil Unions

January 23, 2013 by Maureen McCarty, Online Content and Marketing Manager

The Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee today voted in favor of a bill to enact civil unions for same-sex couples. Dozens of witnesses testified in support of the bill, which now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Advocates at One Colorado are leading the campaign to pass this critical legislation, perhaps before Valentine’s Day.

A civil unions bill passed the state Senate in 2012 but was kept from coming up for a vote in the state House by then Speaker Frank McNulty. With a new pro-equality majority in the state House under the leadership of openly gay Speaker Mark Ferrandino, prospects for the legislation are improved this year.

Colorado lawmakers are working to pass civil unions because the state constitution was amended in 2006 to define marriage as only a union between one man and one woman.

Same-sex couples can marry in nine states and the District of Columbia, representing 15.8 percent of Americans. Civil unions or comprehensive domestic partnerships like those being considered in Colorado are available to same-sex couples in an additional six states.

Momentum toward full equality continues to grow. Visit our Marriage Center for more on HRC’s fight for marriage equality in your state.