Colorado OKs Civil Unions

Add Colorado to the list of states that will recognize same-sex partnerships, although lawmakers today approved civil unions, not full marriages, reports the Denver Post. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign the measure into law in May, and activists promised to keep pushing for recognition of marriage itself. The vote comes about two weeks before the Supreme Court hears arguments in two separate cases that have the potential to determine whether the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage, notes NBC News.

"We're not there yet,” says a state senator who sponsored the bill. “Civil unions are not marriage. They are something that are separate and distinct and lesser and unequal and that really is not good enough." Voters in Colorado approved a 2006 constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. (More Colorado stories.)