College student hopes to reverse Colo.’s definition of marriage to clear path for same-sex unions

A 19-year-old Aurora college student thinks it’s time for Colorado voters to repeal Amendment 43, so he’ll meet with the state’s title board Wednesday to take the first steps toward a 2012 ballot initiative to do just that.

Mark Olmstead said he believes the political climate in Colorado has changed since 2006 when voters approved Amendment 43 to define marriage between a man and a woman. Voters also struck down a referendum that would have established domestic partnerships on the same ballot.

“I believe Amendment 43 is discriminatory and needs to be reversed,” the Seattle University political science major said. “It’s my state’s turn for same-sex marriage.”

Olmstead is gay.

The state’s title board will review the language next week to clear the proposal for the ballot. If approved, Olmstead would have to collect about 86,000 signatures to put the question to voters.

The title board is composed of officials from the offices of the secretary of state, attorney general and legislative legal services.

Olmstead said he monitored the civil union debate that took place in Colorado earlier this year. A bill sponsored by gay Denver Democrats Sen. Pat Steadman and Rep. Mark Ferrandino would have established civil unions, but it was killed by House Republicans in committee March 31.

“I was very disappointed it couldn’t get out of committee,” Olmstead said.

Olmstead decided to file the ballot proposal on his own, but has since met with One Colorado, a statewide LGBT advocacy organization.

Olmstead said One Colorado reached out to him and asked him to withdraw his initiative because it would conflict with its push for civil unions, but spokeswoman Jessica Cook Woodrum said that isn’t the case.

“We didn’t ask Mr. Olmstead to withdraw the initiative,” she said. “We met with him and had a frank conversation about the difficulties of any ballot initiative, but we didn’t ask him to withdraw.”

Cook Woodrum said One Colorado applauds Olmstead and supports the spirit of the proposal, but cautions now is not the time to ask the LGBT community to finance what would most likely be a multi-million dollar campaign.

She denied fears it would conflict with One Colorado’s argument that civil unions aren’t a first step toward same-sex marriage, as some Republicans in the state senate argued.

“I don’t think anyone would say One Colorado isn’t committed to full marriage equality, but that process is long and Colorado couples need protections now,” she said.

Cook Woodrum said its the legislatures job to “make sure every Coloradan can take care of the ones they love,” and that they have another opportunity in 2012 to establish civil unions so that the community doesn’t have to be burdened with a costly and time consuming campaign during hard economic times.

Olmstead said he’ll weigh his options after the title board hearing. He hopes, if he decides to move forward, donors will reach out.

Even if Olmstead is successful in getting the amendment on the ballot and it does pass, same-sex marriage would still not be established. Coloradans are only allowed to address one issue at a time with each ballot question. That means either another ballot question would have to be asked in 2014, or Olmstead hopes, lawmakers would legislate same-sex unions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.