Colorado same-sex relationship recognition goes back to ’70s

Insight by Mike Yost

For the history of same-sex unions in Colorado, think back. Decades back – to 1975.

Gerald Ford was President. The last American troops left Vietnam. And Boulder County Clerk Clela Rorex issued the first same-sex marriage certificates in Colorado.

When two 27-year-old gay men approached the Clerk’s office requesting to be married, Rorex asked Boulder County District Attorney Alex Hunter what to do. There was no precedent on the matter; Hunter’s office reported there were no state laws prohibiting it. So Rorex gave the men a marriage certificate March 27, followed by five other certificates including one for a coworker.

When the news broke, opposition was swift to protest. Hate mail poured in. One man rode to the clerk’s office on a horse arguing that if gays and lesbians could marry, he should be able to wed his mare. Rorex was quick to point out the mare was only eight-years-old – too young to be married in Colorado. The victory was brief; the Boulder County certificates were soon declared invalid by Colorado’s state attorney.

It took 31 years for Colorado to revisit the issue with the Domestic Partnership Act of 2006. Backed by Coloradans for Fairness, Referendum I proposed legal protections for committed same-sex couples. It was defeated by 53 percent of Colorado voters. Amendment 43 was added to the state constitution the same year defining marriage between one man and one woman, settling the question of marriage as long as the amendment remains in place.

But these setbacks galvanized the Colorado LGBT community and its allies, and one year later the state legislature passed the Second-Parent Adoption Bill granting same-sex couples the right to adopt one another’s children. Two years later, the Designated Beneficiary Act was adopted, providing same-sex couples rights in medical decisions, hospital visitation and inheritance.

In 2010, four openly-gay Colorado legislators were in office: Sen. Pat Steadman, Sen. Lucia Guzman, Rep. Mark Ferrandino and Rep. Sue Schafer. Monica Marquez became the first out lesbian to serve on the Colorado Supreme Court. And on February 14, 2011, civil unions, SB-172 was introduced in the Colorado legislature. Although it was narrowly defeated in committee, the same bill was reintroduced in 2011 as SB-2 with support from the GOP group Coloradans for Freedom. All of this in fewer than six years.

These accomplishments are extraordinary considering that in 2006, 53.4 percent of Colorado voters approved Amendment 43, but in 2012 Public Policy Polling reported that 76 percent of Colorado voters approve of civil unions. Why the overwhelming shift in support?

“The single most important thing driving this incredible change in public opinion is coming out and telling our stories,” said Jess Woodrum, deputy director of One Colorado. “As members of the LGBT community come out, we share our lives with others; we show our families, friends, neighbors, and coworkers that we have the same hopes and worries as they do.”

Indeed, the LGBT community has been coming out. The U.S. Census Bureau reported a 60 percent increase in same-sex Colorado households from 2000 to 2010, eight percent more than the national average. Protected by recent anti-discrimination laws, same-sex couples are making themselves known: “As we come out and tell our stories,” Woodrum said, “we build common ground with everyday people who begin to support issues like civil unions because they realize, ‘Why shouldn’t my neighbor be treated the same way I’m treated?'”

That is exactly the question Rorex asked herself 37 years ago, when her coworker asked if he could marry his partner. She answered by scratching out the words man and woman on six marriage certificates, replacing them with person.

It is now 2012. Barak Obama is President. American troops have left Iraq but not Afghanistan. Seven states marry same-sex couples, with more expected to follow. And it started with the Boulder county clerk treating her coworker not as a gender, but as a person.