Colorado GOP Kills Civil Unions Bill—Again

Colorado’s civil unions measure died for the second time in less than a week yesterday, this time during a special session of the Colorado Legislature. The bill—which had already passed the state Senate and had enough Republican support in the House to pass—was first killed after a Republican filibuster last week. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper then called for yesterday’s special session to take up the issue again, but Republicans assigned the bill to the House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee, which killed it, 5-4, along party lines, preventing it from hitting the House floor. Democrats had expected the defeat.

The session was emotional, with two Democrats choking up and hundreds of people watching, the AP reports. One committee member whose son is gay voted against the bill, the Denver Post notes, citing the state’s 2006 ban on gay marriage. "What you're asking me to do here is invalidate the vote of six years ago," Republican Rep. Don Coram said as his wife cried in the audience. "I'm concerned that the gay community is being used as a political pawn." (More Colorado stories.)