At its June meeting, the Western Equality Board of Directors formally endorsed the domestic partnership referendum that will be on the ballot this November. After considerable discussion, members of the board determined to formally endorse the upcoming ballot initiative. Understanding that domestic partnerships are not equivalent to marriage, the board believes this initiative to be a step toward securing equal rights, including full marriage equality, for LGBT persons living in Colorado and recognizes that, if passed by voters, domestic partnerships will provide immediate legal assistance to LGBT families and individuals in need of protection while we continue to fight for full marriage equality.
On Friday, May 26 Governor Owens for a 2nd year in a row vetoed the Employment Non Discrimination Act
In his veto letter the Governor stated, "As stated in my veto letter of nearly identical legislation last year, I believe that S.B. 081, though intended to protect employees from discrimination in the workplace, is unnecessary and may in fact result in harmful unintended consequences." [Read the entire letter]
The Denver Posts reported that Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, said she expected the veto on the sexual orientation bill - Owens blocked a similar measure last year - but she remained disappointed. "I got to tell you that I expected it, but I'm still really irritated," Veiga said.
The Denver Post also reported that to top Democratic leaders in the legislature, the vetoes are proof that they need a Democratic governor to enact changes. "Bill Owens provided a pretty good argument for Bill Ritter," House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said of the party's gubernatorial candidate.
Provided by the Colorado Stonewall Democrats. To learn how you can get involved with Stonewall to fight to elect individuals who will standup for our community, and how we can work to pass domestic partnerships, and defeat the ban on same-sex marriage.To learn more about Bill Ritter you can visit his website at www.ritterforgovernor.com.
Bipartisan Backing For Plan To Give Same-Sex Couples
Legal Protections & Responsibilities
(DENVER) -Coloradans for Fairness and Equality Action Fund (CFE) today applauded the bipartisan vote in the Colorado legislature to send a landmark domestic partnership referendum to the ballot in November.
"Today marks an historic step forward for the cause of legal fairness for tens of thousands of law-abiding, taxpaying Coloradans," said Sean Duffy, the group's interim executive director. "The people of our state will have the chance this November to ensure that committed same-sex couples have the right to hospital visitation, property and inheritance rights and many more legal protections and responsibilities that they are denied today.
"We applaud every legislator -- Democrat or Republican -- who supported this landmark legislation."
The state legislature today gave final approval to House Bill 1344, sponsored by Rep. Tom Plant and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, which would provide committed same-sex couples with many -- but far from all -- of the rights, protections and responsibilities now legally granted to heterosexual couples. Committed couples would apply and pay a fee for a domestic partnership license at their county courthouse.
"We're looking forward to taking this common-sense measure to the people of Colorado," Duffy said. "More and more Coloradans are understanding the depth of the unfairness that's written into current law, and they're coming aboard our statewide effort to offer a common-sense solution"
Last week, CFE launched two statewide television ads that underscore the challenges faced by same-sex couples. The ads will continue to run on cable and broadcast television for at least another five weeks.
To learn more about domestic partnerships, a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage, and more visit the CFE website at www.fairequal.org.
Now that the 2006 session of the Colorado General Assembly has ended here is a short summary of the activity that directly affects the LGBT community and was therefore followed closely by the Colorado Stonewall Democrats. This has been a very successful year so far for our community and we urge our members to continue those successes by becoming involved with Coloradans for Fairness and Equality, the group running the campaign to pass Domestic Partnership and oppose the anti-marriage amendment in November.
SB-81 Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)
Provides basic non-discrimination protection for all Coloradans on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Passed by the Senate 19-14 (2 Senators were absent)
Passed by the House 39-26
Currently sits on Governor's desk for action. He has 3 choices: sign it into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature. Stonewall strongly encouges our members to call the Governor's office and ask him to allow this to become law.
HB-1344 Domestic Partnerships
Establishes Domestic Partnerships statewide which include all the rights, responsibilities and benefits under state law afforded to opposite-sex couples through marriage. This bill is a Referendum which means to become law, it must be approved by the voters in November. Since it is a statutory change (ie- not a Constitutional Amendment) it required a simple majorty from the House and Senate to get on the ballot.
Passed the House 38-27
Passed the Senate 19-16
This bill, along with ENDA, has been the primary focus of Stonewall's legislative efforts this session. In addition to testifying in committee, we also spoke with several legislators one-on-one to help insure their passage.
HD-1054 AIDS and HIV Funding
This bill dealt with the distribution of federal funds designated for the purpose of AIDS/HIV education, prevention, and research. The primary function is to establish a committee to be responsible for this distribution. The Democrats, with imput from Stonewall Dems, was able to defeat proposed amendments which would have diverted funds to "abstinence-only" organizations.
Passed the House 55-10
Passed the Senate 23-12
It should be noted here that "no" votes on this legislation would have prevented the distribution of these federal funds at all.
This bill is currently sitting on the Governor's desk awaiting his signature.
HB-1273 Declaration concerning the disposition of remains.
On its surface, this may seem to be an odd bill for Stonewall to follow. It provides for the disposition of the body of a person who has died, and gives instruction to the funeral industry for cases when the deceased has left written instruction and when they have not. Under the original wording, a person who was given written authority by the deceased to make those decisions was being required to yield that authority to the deceased's family members, despite the written declaration from the deceased. This would have meant that if a person died leaving behind a Will stating his/her same-sex partner had the decision-making authority for funeral arrangements, that partner would have to yield to any other arrangements the family members wanted to make instead.
Stonewall tesified before the House Judicial Committee about the unfairness of this and was very actively involved with the Trial Lawyers Assoc. and representatives of the funeral industry in forming an amendment to correct this injustice. The bill ultimately passed, with the amendment intact, and has been signed by the Governor.
Above provided by Colorado Stonewall Democrats.
For more information please visit www.stonewalldems.org.
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Reports Shows That Numbers of Incidents Fell and Severity of Incidents Increased
Denver - May 19 - Today the Colorado Anti-Violence Program (CAVP), in conjunction with the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), released its annual report on violence against lesbians, gay men, bisexual people and transgender individuals. Colorado is just one of fourteen programs across the country who contributed data to the 78-page report, released annually by NCAVP. The report examines data compiled from almost 2,000 hate-motivated incidents in thirteen cities, states, and regions across the country including Chicago, Ohio,
Colorado, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York
City, Pennsylvania, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Vermont.
NCAVP's report is the most complete examination of such violence against LGBT
people. Each year, the FBI publishes its own report on hate crimes, which
includes anti-LGBT incidents, but it consistently contains information on far
fewer cases than the NCAVP publication because it relies on law enforcement
reports of such crimes rather than victim service organization data, a
deficiency recently cited in a U.S. Department of Justice publication.
National Data
Overall, NCAVP's report noted a 13% decrease in reported incidents of anti-LGBT
violence. Such incidents fell from 2,270 in 2004 to 1,985 in 2005. Included the
decline in incidents for the year, was a 15% decrease in anti-LGBT murders in
reporting regions; such murders fell from 13 in 2004 to 11 in 2005. During
2005, the total number of victims also fell -- 12%, from 2,617 in 2004 to 2,301
in 2005. Of the thirteen locations included in main body of the report, all
but Cleveland, Houston, Massachusetts, and Vermont reported declines.
According to the report, the number of anti-LGBT violence offenders fell as
well, but only at half the rate of decline of victims and incidents, or 6%, from 3,450 in 2004 to 3,245 in 2005.
The data in the report is submitted to NCAVP for analysis and derived from a
common intake tool NCAVP's members utilize when directly serving victims of
violence at their agencies, which are primarily, local LGBT victim service
organizations.
Colorado Data
In 2005, the Colorado Anti-Violence Program (CAVP) documented 86 victims of
anti-LGBT-bias, a significant decrease (-53%) from the 2004 total of 182
victims. The most significant change in victim demographics collected by CAVP
stems from a drop in reports to CAVP from LGBT organizations and from
white/caucasian LGBT victims.
Despite the lower number of victims in 2005, numbers of victims reporting
injuries increased from 36 to 43. Severity of injuries was also slightly
elevated over 2004. Numbers of victims needing medical attention increased 17%
and number of assaults increased 38% (from 17 to 27) with a significant
increase in numbers of assaults involving weapons (+32%). CAVP documented one anti-gay, bias-motivated murder in 2005 and two suicides that are believed to
be related to the victims’ experiences of homophobia. The significant decrease
in reports occurred in the non-injury categories (vandalism, mail/literature
harassment, telephone/internet harassment).
The total number of offenders did not decline as sharply as the number of
victims, dropping only 16%. This signals an increase in numbers of group
attacks on individuals. In 2005, offenders outnumbered victims nearly 50%.
Implications
According to NCAVP representatives, the data collected in for 2005 showed that
in a relatively quiet year for the LGBT community, reports of anti-LGBT
violence declined. The decline comes after dramatic increases in anti-LGBT
hate incidents noted by the organization in 2003 and 2004 as the nation
grappled with significant victories and defeats for LGBT people such as the
U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Lawrence v. Texas, the granting of
same-sex marriage rights in Massachusetts, anti-same-sex marriage ballot
initiatives in numerous states, the Presidential and Congressional threat of a
federal marriage amendment, and the demonization of the LGBT community and
families during the 2004 election cycle. For instance, after rising only 3% in
the first six months of 2003, reports of anti-LGBT violence to NCAVP member
organizations jumped 26% after the Lawrence decision and the Massachusetts
marriage debate. Such reports rose another 4% in NCAVP's report on anti-LGBT
violence in 2004.
"This year's report can be viewed as an has to be viewed as an indication that
after almost two years of wholesale attack on LGBT individuals, communities and
families, 2005 offered a respite of sorts for our community's experience with
hate violence," said Clarence Patton, NCAVP leader and executive director of
the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. "In the last two
editions of this report was all too clear that with respect to violence, the
nation's LGBT communities had entered a very new, and very dangerous era in
which all of us were under attack at levels not seen in recent years,"
continued Patton.
"Colorado’s numbers indicate that in 2005, hate violence offenders targeted
people with less frequency but with greater severity," noted Veronica Garcia,
Director of Community Relations the Colorado Anti-Violence Program. "This is a
concerning trend going into the 2006 elections with several gay marriage
initiatives on the table," continued Garcia.
PDF versions of the 2005 Report, its Executive Summary, and previous editions
of NCAVP's reports on hate-motivated and domestic violence are available at
www.ncavp.org.
The Colorado Anti-Violence Program works to end violence in all its forms
against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities across Colorado.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) addresses the
pervasive problem of violence committed against and within the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and HIV-positive communities. NCAVP is a coalition
of programs that document and advocate for victims of anti-LGBT and
anti-HIV/AIDS violence/harassment, domestic violence, sexual assault, police
misconduct and other forms of victimization. NCAVP is dedicated to creating a
national response to the violence plaguing these communities. Further, NCAVP
supports existing anti-violence organizations and emerging local programs in
their efforts to document and prevent such violence.
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Recently Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland was a panel guest on the PBS program, "Colorado State of Mind." The Grand Valley Marriage Equality Council is compelled to respond to inaccurate and inappropriate comments that reflect a personal bias she made as an elected civil servant. When asked if same-sex marriage vs. domestic partnerships is irreconcilable for Colorado voters she immediately did what she accuses others of doing, and that was to use inflammatory comments to polarize the question. Using comparisons to "bestiality, polygamy and incest" is not only uneducated about marriage, but insulting to many in the local community. Marriage has not always been between one man and one woman. Throughout most of history it has been civil contracts for property and power and not based on biblical tradition or religious rites. While same-sex marriage is still difficult for many to comprehend, recent polls show that 76% of Colorado voters support legal protections for same-sex partners in committed long-term relationships.
It is a myth that the same legal protections are already available. When a same-sex couple has gone through the time-consuming and expensive process of having legal papers drawn up, they still cannot be assured that immediate family members won’t succeed at having them overturned in a court of law. Each partner must carry the entire set of papers with them at all times in order to be prepared for any emergency. It is not possible for a same-sex couple in Colorado to have both names on adoption papers, nor is there a legal process for including partners on insurance. Domestic partnerships are not just about the insurance and benefits, they are about the stabilizing of individuals and families, healthier and stronger communities.
Domestic partnerships are about the responsibilities of committed long-term relationships and are not detrimental to heterosexual marriages. What is detrimental to heterosexual marriage is heterosexual divorce. Marriage is already defined in Colorado as between one man and one woman in our statutes, so concern about gay marriage in Colorado is unreasonable. Passing a Constitutional amendment to ban gay-marriage would be the first time in Colorado history that our Constitution would be used to limit rights rather than expand them. Domestic partnerships would provide immediate and tangible benefits to same-sex couples and be recognized at the state level only. This would still not address the 1,138 rights and responsibilities of marriage granted by the federal government.
The Grand Valley Marriage Equality Council is concerned about any elected civil servant who will place extremist ideology above upholding the Constitution, which they are elected to do. We recognize that some elected officials feel the need to burnish their conservative credentials in an election year, but believe that could be accomplished to a greater effect using less discriminatory language and more inclusive ideology. Commissioner Rowland says she knows and works with gay people and doesn’t hate them. Apparently she just doesn’t want them to have fair and equal treatment in Colorado.
Sincerely, the Grand Valley Marriage Equality Council:
Reverend Mike Burr, Reverend Dr. Marlene Walker, Reverend Charles Holmgren, Father John Kiernan, Reverend Deacon William Mary, Jeffrey Basinger, Mary Coombs, Gloria Perez, Rosemary Lichlyter-Litz, Angie Bertrand, Laura Rose, Michael Mansheim, Melanie Porter, Julia Hosea, Martha Amos, Mandy Brath, Liz Hickey, Randall Reitz, Bobbie Spector
The above was submitted as a letter to the editor in The Daily Sentinel and The Grand Junction Free Press
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For the month of August, the Marriage Equality Council has made arrangements to bring a photo exhibit called "Love Makes A Family" to Grand Junction. This is an exhibit of several photos of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families with text that tells a little about each family. This is exhibit is a positive way to show the love and care that exits in our diverse families. Having this exhibit is a profound way to let the community of Grand Junction see that we do have families and that we value them. The photos and stories will help us as we speak about the need for our relaionships to be respected and treated fairly and equally.
We have already made arrangements to have it displayed at the Mesa County Public Library and plan to have some of the photos in other locations in town including the Farmer's Market and Mesa State College. We are asking for donations to cover the expenses of having this exhibit here. Western Equality, PFLAG, Mesa State PRIDE, Grand Valley Interfaith Network, and the Global Heart Spiritual Center are already sponsors. Several individuals are also making donations.
We need your support as well. If you can help bring "Love Makes A Family" to Grand Junction, please send your donation to Western Equality or bring it to office. Let us know that the donation is for "Love Makes A Family" Thank you.
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We want to let you know well in advance where and when the statewide gatherings are taking place in 2006, and as more information becomes available we will release. Dates and locations for this summer's gatherings are:
- July 27-31at Red Mountain Camp near Pueblo
- August 25-29 at Camp Kiwanis on the Grand Mesa near Grand Junction
- October 26-30 at Calwood near Boulder
The vision of Colorado ManREACH is to build heart-centered connections and community for gay/bi/queer men in rural Colorado. Colorado ManREACH is undergoing some transformation and development, including our website, collaborations with other partners in community, and better ways to communicate with our networks of men in rural Colorado. We realize there are other social opportunities happening as well and want to offer ManREACH as a supportive option. We hope that this finds you well and ready for some wonderful experiences this year in your local communities, and at the statewide gatherings.
Questions and inquiries are always welcome! For more information contact Jeff Basinger at 970-243-2437 or jeff@westcap.info or log onto www.manreach.info.
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