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Ballot issues duel to define marriage

Voters could rule on four measures this November

Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 26, 2006 at midnight

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Another gay-rights-related measure could join three others proposed for the November ballot, setting up an emotional election-year debate over how the law should treat same-sex couples.

The latest entry is by the gay- rights group Coloradans for Fairness and Equality. It has filed paperwork for a November ballot initiative that says "domestic partnerships" between gay couples are not similar to marriage.

That's an effort to counter another ballot measure, which would prohibit the state from creating any legal status similar to marriage for same-sex couples. That language is backed by Will Perkins, author of ill-fated Amendment 2 in 1992, and Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud.

Both measures have to attract about 68,000 valid voter signatures to make the ballot, as does a proposed state constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, effectively banning gay marriage.

A proposal establishing domestic partnerships for gay couples is working its way through the legislature. If it passes, it also would be on the ballot.

The gay-rights group opposes the marriage amendment. But it is the Perkins-Lundberg proposal that has inspired the countermove.

"We are very concerned that Will Perkins' aim is to re-enact his denial of civil rights to same-sex couples," said Sean Duffy, spokesman for Coloradans for Fairness and Equality. "We would hotly dispute the notion that domestic partnerships are the same as marriage."

It looks very much like something a court would have to decide - should both measures pass.

"You have a legal issue there," said Perkins, who was in Denver Tuesday for a meeting with Lundberg and the Colorado Legislative Council, which assists groups in wording ballot measures. "You can't have two things pass that say different things.

"People are going to have a choice to make, and we'll just have to wait and see."

Coloradans for Fairness and Equality isn't waiting long. It jumped into the statewide television market Tuesday when it began a seven-week, $1.2-million advertising campaign.

It has two ads. One shows a man pacing in a hospital corridor after a door is shut.

"You have a responsibility to take care of those you love," says the female narrator. "But what if you were denied that right? What if, at a time of need, you weren't allowed to be at your partner's side? What if the doors were shut simply because you were gay?

"No matter who you are, commitment is commitment. Learn more about domestic partnerships."

The second ad zeroes in on the "nature versus nurture" debate over homosexuality. The camera slowly zooms in on a diapered infant while the narrator says, "We're all created equal, right? Well maybe not so equal."

She then lists some rights that this baby might be denied in the future.

"Why? Because some of us were born gay. Until domestic partnerships are a reality, your voice needs to be heard."

The ads are meant to promote House Bill 1344, the domestic partnership measure that would extend to same-sex couples many of the rights and responsibilities of married couples.

That bill, in part, is what led Lundberg and Perkins to draft their broader-reaching amendment - which in turn led the gay-rights advocates to come up with its countermeasure.

Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, one of the groups backing the marriage amendment, said the gay-rights group is muddying the water.

"It's obvious those opposed to traditional marriage are trying to confuse voters," said Jim Pfaff, a state policy analyst at Focus.

In the past, if voters have approved two amendments that are in direct conflict with one another, the one with the greater number of votes has taken precedence.

But it's not clear that the Coloradans for Fairness and Equality proposal contradicts the Perkins amendment.

Rather, it attempts to exempt domestic partnerships from the reach of Perkins' measure by simply declaring that they are not similar to marriage and therefore not prohibited.

Perkins, a retired Colorado Springs auto dealer, spearheaded the campaign to pass Amendment 2, which prohibited laws that would protect gays from discrimination. That amendment never took effect and was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1996, but not before it prompted a nationwide boycott of Colorado by groups sympathetic to gay rights.

Measures on gay rights head toward ballot

Four measures that would affect gay rights are working their way toward the November ballot. Three are proposed constitutionalamendments, and one is a statute under consideration in the legislature. A brief description of each:

• House Bill 1344: Would allow domestic partnerships to be registered by the state. The effect would be to extend certain benefits, protections and responsibilities to same-sex couples. That would include the right to inherit property from a partner, family leave benefits, medical decision-making and others.

Sponsor: Rep. Tom Plant, D-Nederland.

For more information: .co.us and

• Colorado Marriage Amendment: A constitutional amendment that says, "Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state." The amendment wouldn't prohibit same-sex couples from receiving benefits allowed by law, but it would prohibit same-sex relationships from being officially sanctioned as marriages.

Sponsor: Coloradans for Marriage, a coalition of 10 religious and family-values groups.

For more information:

• No Legal Status Amendment: A constitutional amendment that would prohibit the state from creating any legal status similar to marriage for a same-sex couple. The amendment is an attempt to trump the domestic partnership measure in HB 1344.

Sponsors: Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, and Will Perkins of Colorado Springs, backer of 1992's Amendment 2 prohibition on gay rights laws that was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

For more information:

• Domestic Partnership Amendment: A constitutional amendment that would make a same-sex domestic partnerships "a unique and valued relationship" that is not similar to marriage. The intent is to allow voters to say domestic partnerships don't violate the one-man, one-woman marriage definition. It is meant to counter the No Legal Status Amendment.

Sponsor: Coloradans for Fairness and Equality, which is supporting voter approval of HB 1344.

For more information:

or 303-892-5247