Yesterday Colorado’s Senate approved a bill sponsored by Pat Steadman that would approve civil unions. Pat Steadman is an openly Gay legislator, and all around nice guy. What you may not remember is that he was the Senator who carried Steve King’s masturbation bill. Steve King voted against this bill, but three Republican senators, Jean White, Nancy Spence and Ellen Roberts, crossed the aisle to vote in favor of the bill even though it would have passed without any Republican votes.
The bill now goes to the House, where it faces a tougher audience. The Democrat carrying the bill in the House says that he has found Republican representatives who will vote for the bill, but the fear is that it will be killed in committee.
This bill is carefully crafted to give both heterosexual and homosexual partners rights if they are living together, but not married. Steadman argued that the person making health care decisions during health emergencies should be the person closest to the patient. Sometimes people living together have alienated family members, so it doesn’t make sense that those alienated family members should be making health care decisions. They may not have the best interests of the patient in mind.
I support Gay marriage, but Colorado passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. This bill will not undo that constitutional amendment. What it will do is make civil unions available to people who love each other, but for some reason choose to live lives together without benefit of marriage. In the case of homosexuals they make that choice because there is not another choice available in Colorado. In the case of heterosexuals, my guess is that they make that choice because of a fear of the legal agonies of divorce. As a woman who has been married and divorced twice, I would prefer a live-in lover to any marriage proposal. For the record, my current bedmate is a real dog.
Homework
Story About Civil Unions Bill
House Speaker's Tweet About the Bill
Text of Senate Bill 11-172
The bill now goes to the House, where it faces a tougher audience. The Democrat carrying the bill in the House says that he has found Republican representatives who will vote for the bill, but the fear is that it will be killed in committee.
This bill is carefully crafted to give both heterosexual and homosexual partners rights if they are living together, but not married. Steadman argued that the person making health care decisions during health emergencies should be the person closest to the patient. Sometimes people living together have alienated family members, so it doesn’t make sense that those alienated family members should be making health care decisions. They may not have the best interests of the patient in mind.
I support Gay marriage, but Colorado passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. This bill will not undo that constitutional amendment. What it will do is make civil unions available to people who love each other, but for some reason choose to live lives together without benefit of marriage. In the case of homosexuals they make that choice because there is not another choice available in Colorado. In the case of heterosexuals, my guess is that they make that choice because of a fear of the legal agonies of divorce. As a woman who has been married and divorced twice, I would prefer a live-in lover to any marriage proposal. For the record, my current bedmate is a real dog.
Homework
Story About Civil Unions Bill
House Speaker's Tweet About the Bill
Text of Senate Bill 11-172
RSS Feed