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1 less initiative on gay unions

But voters likely to see three related measures in Nov.

Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 8, 2006 at midnight

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The looming battle over gay unions will be less complicated now that sponsors of an initiative against domestic partnerships failed to submit petitions by the Monday deadline.

But voters will still likely see three related ballot questions in November - one about marriage and two addressing legal rights for gay couples.

Monday morning, backers of a proposed state constitutional amendment defining marriage as a heterosexual union submitted 132,200 voter signatures to the Colorado secretary of state's office.

Ruben Mendez, a pastor and board vice president of Coloradans for Marriage, called Colorado a battleground state on the issue.

The proposed amendment saying marriage is a union between one man and one woman "protects our state from courts that might try to redefine marriage," he said.

Later Monday, gay rights supporters submitted 137,544 petitions for their initiative. That proposal says domestic partnerships are not equal to marriage - an effort to protect rights for gay couples.

Sponsors need about 68,000 valid signatures from registered voters to make the ballot. The secretary of state's office has until Sept. 6 to approve or deny initiatives.

Assuming those two measures appear in November, they will join Referendum I, which was sent to the ballot by the legislature. That measure would allow same-sex couples to register their union and grant them many legal rights and responsibilities given to married couples.

But a fourth measure that sought to ban legal recognition of gay unions won't make it. Backers of that initiative, state Rep. Kevin Lund-berg, R-Berthoud, and Will Perkins, a retired car dealer from Colorado Springs, failed to get enough signatures, Lundberg said.

Lundberg, who ran the campaign through a group called Protecting Colorado Children, said he decided to abandon the effort Monday morning. He would not say how many signatures his volunteers collected.

Lundberg said he will consider pursuing the initiative in the future, but will focus now on fighting Referendum I and supporting the marriage amendment.

"I want the people of Colorado . . . to thoroughly understand what domestic partnerships are and how . . . they really are a replacement for marriage," Lundberg said.

Focus on the Family, the Colorado Springs ministry, heavily supported the Lundberg/Perkins measure and the marriage amendment and had already committed $500,000 to campaign for both measures in the fall.

Jim Pfaff, a Focus official, said he's disappointed about the Lundberg measure's failure and expects a "highly charged battle" over the other three initiatives.

The gay-rights camp will campaign both for Referendum I and for their own initiative, which was meant to counter the Lundberg/Perkins measure.

Backers had planned to drop their initiative campaign if Lundberg/Perkins derailed. But they decided Monday morning to move ahead to protect against unexpected legal maneuvers.

Still, their biggest push will be for Referendum I. During a news conference near the secretary of state's office, pro-gay advocates pasted signs on the petition boxes that said "It's not marriage. It's basic legal rights" and spent most of their speech talking about Referendum I.

Sean Duffy, executive director of Coloradans for Fairness and Equality, said the "domestic partnerships is not marriage" measure won't hurt Referendum I even if one failed and the other passed in November.

The marriage amendment and Referendum I also do not conflict, Duffy said. "A lot of people will vote yes on both."

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