Why do you think the announcement of same-sex marriage in Colorado didn’t generate as much excitement as some thought it might?

I live in Capitol Hill and on my way to the grocery store, I pass Planned Parenthood. It wasn’t too long ago that I drove past and saw folks outside protesting abortion. To refresh our memories, it was in 1973 that the Supreme Court legalized abortion across the United States. Forty years later, the issue is still attracting protests. In fact, Colorado has a personhood bill coming through that threatens to ban abortion again. There is a very real chance abortion rights might be stripped away,

40 years after winning them.

What’s my point? Romer v Evans settled an issue in 1994 that set Colorado apart as the “hate state” of the west. Twenty years later, we have gay marriage through yet another court case. Keep in mind, the people of our fine state banned gay marriage explicitly just over a decade ago via referendum. That means, when people got a chance to say “yes” or “no”, the majority said they wanted no chance of gay marriage. A court case changed the situation but the memory of that referendum remains.

What makes me cautious about marriage? History. I lived in San Francisco during the Summer of Love when gay marriage was legal before Proposition 8 took it away. We fought the legal battle and won for right now, but let’s remember: We have to keep at it or it can all be taken away.

Pieter Tolsma is program coordinator of Denver PIQUE,  a sexual health and social support program for gay/bi men in Denver.

I believe that most people in the LGBT community knew it was just a matter of time before the Supreme Court of the United States either ruled or let stand lower court rulings on same-sex marriage. The excitement level by the time of the decision was likely lower than some anticipated for

several reasons:

• Our governor and state attorney general already said they would abide by the Supreme Court decision.

• Many Colorado same-sex couples are already civil-unioned or have been married in another state.

• The unmarried are not likely particularly interested in tying the legal knot for a variety of reasons. (If polled, I would guess that most LGBT have no desire to marry.)

There are still many things that need to be tidied up in the Colorado statute. Even with the SCOTUS’ decision, the Colorado legislature must clean up a lot of state laws in the next session. There will be supporters on both sides of the aisle to correctly codify changes.

2014 will go down as a watershed year in the LGBT movement, yet there is much to be done in our nation and around the world. America is changing, but much of the rest of the world is not. That’s the next big hurdle for the LGBT movement. l

Iowa native George Gramer, Jr. is president of the Colorado Log Cabin Republicans.