April 26, 2006 08:00 AM UTC

Gay Rights Issue Gets More Confusing

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• by: Colorado Pols

Both proponents and opponents of gay rights may have a hard time explaining what their supporters are supposed to vote for – and against – come November. There may now be four measures dealing with gay rights on the November ballot, according to the Rocky Mountain News:

Another gay-rights-related measure could join three others proposed for the November ballot, setting up an emotional election-year debate over how the law should treat same-sex couples.

The latest entry is by the gay- rights group Coloradans for Fairness and Equality. It has filed paperwork for a November ballot initiative that says “domestic partnerships” between gay couples are not similar to marriage.

That’s an effort to counter another ballot measure, which would prohibit the state from creating any legal status similar to marriage for same-sex couples. That language is backed by Will Perkins, author of ill-fated Amendment 2 in 1992, and Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud.

Both measures have to attract about 68,000 valid voter signatures to make the ballot, as does a proposed state constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, effectively banning gay marriage. A proposal establishing domestic partnerships for gay couples is working its way through the legislature. If it passes, it also would be on the ballot.

The gay-rights group opposes the marriage amendment. But it is the Perkins-Lundberg proposal that has inspired the countermove. “We are very concerned that Will Perkins’ aim is to re-enact his denial of civil rights to same-sex couples,” said Sean Duffy, spokesman for Coloradans for Fairness and Equality. “We would hotly dispute the notion that domestic partnerships are the same as marriage.”

It looks very much like something a court would have to decide – should both measures pass.