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发帖数: 19713 | 1 Douglas County Republican supports civil unions in emotional speech
POSTED: 02/28/2013 01:41:54 PM MST
UPDATED: 03/01/2013 11:00:33 AM MSTBy Lynn Bartels
The Denver Post
A Republican lawmaker from one of Colorado's most conservative counties
voted Thursday to support civil unions, the latest signal that attitudes
toward gays have changed drastically in recent years.
Rep. Carole Murray of Castle Rock said some might be surprised that a
politician with a voting record that she said has been described as "to the
right of Attila the Hun" would support such a measure.
"There's not a gun that I don't love, but I believe our party is the party
of independent thinkers, and I'm one of them," she said.
Murray joined with the seven Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee to
pass Senate Bill 11, which gives gay couples many but not all of the rights
and responsibilities of marriage. The other
Shayna Alexander, left, and her partner, Mindy Barton, listen during the
House Judiciary Committee's hearing Thursday of Senate Bill 11, which would
allow gay couples to form civil unions.
The measure next week goes to the finance and appropriations committees, and
will be debated on the House floor the week of March 11.
An emotional Murray said she spoke to only a few family members and friends
about her decision, and they advised her to vote "no" as the bill was going
to pass anyway. Democrats won back the majority in November and control the
House 37-28.
But Murray, the former Douglas County clerk and recorder, said she wanted to
be able to look back on her years of public service and know that she has
been true to her upbringing in a devout Catholic family.
"It's not for me to judge others but to leave that up to God," she said. "
While on earth, Jesus asked us to love one another."
As for any political fallout, Murray didn't sound worried, noting she had
heard others say they had a life before politics and they would have one
after.
That was a line often repeated last year by Rep. B.J. Nikkel of Loveland,
who infuriated fellow Republicans when she supported the civil-unions bill
in Judiciary. Nikkel's vote — at a time when Republicans controlled the
House — was crucial to keeping the bill alive.
Murray did say
Talitha Koehler, 27, center, Whitney Shook, 25, right, and other supporters
of the Colorado Civil Union Act gather in front of the state Capitol
building Tuesday.
she is concerned that this year's bill does not provide religious exemptions
for adoptions and such.
That provision in the bill prompted Republican Colorado Attorney General
John Suthers to testify for the first time on civil unions.
Suthers stressed he wasn't speaking as an office holder but as a Coloradan,
a Roman Catholic and, "most importantly," as someone who was adopted through
Catholic Charities as an infant.
"If Senate Bill 11 passes and becomes law," he said, "Catholic Charities and
some other religiously affiliated social service agencies will no longer be
in the adoption business in Colorado."
This was the third time in three years the committee has heard a version of
the bill, but much has changed for
Rep. Mark Ferrandino of Denver (Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post file)
sponsor Mark Ferrandino. Ferrandino is now the House speaker and he and his
partner are foster parents to a 14-month-old girl.
"This legislation won't change my relationship with Greg, but it will
provide the needed protections for our precious daughter, Lila," Ferrandino
said in his opening remarks.
Also presenting the bill with Ferrandino was another gay lawmaker, Rep. Sue
Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge.
"I think we are living history," she said.
Read more: Douglas County Republican supports civil unions in emotional
speech - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22689812/gay-denver-lawmaker-presents-civil-unions-bill-third?utm_medium=facebook&refresh#ixzz2MJhIuiuk
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