Fighting for Marriage Equality in Denver Colorado

This week President Obama announced his support for gay marriage, a move that to some was long overdue, to others was derisive and to most undeniably important.
Here in Colorado we’ve been watching the saga of SB-02, the Civil Union bill, make its way through the legal system. On Tuesday I attended a rally on the stairs of the State House in Denver. Around 200 people stood together asking for SB-02 to be heard on the House floor and given a fair up or down vote. Later that day the bill made its way through appropriations and to the house floor, where a vote was refused and Republicans more or less filibustered the effort late into the night. We all lost hope that night, waking on Wednesday angry at our political system.
Until rumors started flying in the late morning that the Governor, John Hickenlooper, was going to call a special session. At 1:45 on Wednesday May 9th, an emotional Hickenlooper held a press conference stating just that and urging a fair debate and vote on the House floor. The special session commences today.
At the core of this argument are families, children, people in love and many of them my friends, but certainly all of them equals. I simply can’t understand the desire to discriminate against that. I can’t understand why anyone, particularly those who identify as followers of Jesus, would deny others the rights that they have and hold dear. I don’t understand what people are scared of, how people call this a “war on marriage”. I don’t know why giving families the protections they deserve under the law can even be put to a vote. But it has.
It saddens me that Colorado is among the 29  states with discrimination (hate!) written into our constitution, defining marriage as between one man and one woman. But I hope that we can take a step in the right direction this week and make Civil Unions legal for ALL couples. My gay friends certainly deserve it, but more importantly no American should be “less than” another. That actually IS written in our Declaration of Independence.