Editorial:Shame on the House

Shame on the Colorado House for snuffing a law that would have protected people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation.

The narrow 34-30 vote found moderate Republicans joining Democrats in support of HB 1331, which would have prohibited such discrimination in government employment, sales or rentals of housing, loans, admission to private schools, and purchase of cemetery plots.

Yet as inconceivable as it might seem, 34 state representatives actually objected to giving people a fair shake. Rep. Shawn Mitchell, RBroomfield, even argued that the bill would interfere with "freedom of choice in who to hire and who to rent to." That's right, Rep. Mitchell. Just as the Civil Rights Act mandated that people of color can't be shut out of jobs and housing.

Indeed, the law already bans discrimination based on race, creed, religion, color, sex, marital status, national origin or ancestry. Only gays and lesbians are excluded from this elite club of protected citizens.

The short-sighted legislators who endorse this exclusion continue to cite the fear of "special rights" for gays, the same nonsensical tactic used to sell Amendment 2, which won state voters' approval only to be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court as discriminatory.

Discrimination rages on in Colorado nonetheless. While the House was spiking HB 1331 on Tuesday, a conference committee was savaging the only sensible language in HB 1249.

That proposed law would ban gay marriage in Colorado. Although it seems the Legislature would have better things to do, it is intent on banning same-sex unions.

Yet Sen. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden, wrote an amendment that at least would have protected policies of Coors and US West, which offer benefits to gay workers' partners, and of Denver, which has a domestic-partnership ordinance. Perlmutter feared the gay-marriage ban could be used to sue those who recognize same-sex partners. That's a reasonable fear and, as we have said before, local governments and private businesses should be free to set policies without inadvertent intervention by the state.

But as a committee worked on this law, Mitchell went to bat again, insisting such protections could be viewed as "back-door endorsement" of same-sex partners. Heaven forbid.

How a law banning such marriages could be misconstrued as an endorsement is beyond comprehension. But Mitchell prevailed, and the amendment was eradicated.

The deaths of this amendment and of the anti-discrimination bill are lamentable. In the Colorado House this Tuesday, reason did not prevail.

Send a letter to the editor about this editorial. (Must include name, city and phone number.)

This editorial represents the official opinion of The Denver Post as decided by the newspaper's editorial board.

The members of the editorial board are Gerald E. Grilly, publisher; Glenn Guzzo, editor; Sue O'Brien, editorial page editor; Bob Ewegen, deputy editorial page editor; Angela Cortez, Al Knight, Penelope Purdy and Billie Stanton, editorial writers; Mike Keefe, cartoonist; and Barbara Ellis and Peggy McKay, news editors.

Return to P.E.R.S.O.N. Project Home Page