CIVIL UNION RALLY: Act now, or forever hold your peace

Let us be direct and to the point: There has not, since the days of Amendment 2, been a more pressing need for our community to come together and fight for our rights.

Tuesday is the last day a bill to establish civil unions can be debated by the Colorado House of Representatives. The bill will die, once again, if it does not meet this deadline.

If the bill dies, thousands of committed same-sex couples will spend another year in jeopardy. They and their families will go without the critical legal protections they so desperately need to be equal to their heterosexual counterparts.

We can not let that happen.

All of us must do our part to help see the bill pass. Throughout most of Monday, our social networks were exploding with updates about the bill sponsored by gay Denver Democrats Rep. Mark Ferrandino and Sen. Pat Steadman.

These men, along with statewide LGBT advocacy organization One Colorado, have done all the heavy lifting.

Now it is our turn to hold them up.

House Republican leaders have every political reason to kill the bill, and “not enough time” to pass it, they say.

We have to show them they do have a reason and do have enough time to make the bill law.

There are more than enough votes to pass the bill. And Gov. John Hickenlooper is waiting to sign it.

All House leadership has to do is either be on the right side of history — or get out of her way.

A rally is planned for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Capitol. It is critical we show en masse — as in PrideFest masse. Last year, before the bill was heard by a House Judiciary Committee, there were more than 300 people at the Capitol supporting a similar bill. Last week, there were — disappointingly — fewer.

Now you have a second chance to stand up for your rights and send a message to Speaker of the House Frank McNulty, Majority Leader Amy Stephens and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Jon Becker: The time has come for civil unions.

Twenty years ago, as Election Day neared, polls showed Amendment 2 failing. The LGBT community of Colorado mostly dusted off from the fight and got back to life as usual, relieved — until it was too late. Then there was rage. While the passage of this anti-gay law eventually galvanized our community, it was an unnecessary burden that plagued our state for most of the 1990s.

As Republican state Sen. Nancy Spence stated in her speech from the Senate floor during the civil union debate in her chamber, passing this bill will heal a part of our collective soul.

This is true. But the healing won’t be complete unless we take part in the process ourselves.

We urge you — if you have paid time off, if you can take a sick day, or even if you can’t — find a way to be at the Capitol Tuesday morning and show the Grand Old Party we will not rest until we are equal.