Reader: Civil union proposal like leftovers compared to a true marriage bill

• Not often we get a post with a list of source citations. Thanks for weighing in, Daniel. Much appreciated.

• Colorado could be a decade or more away from full marriage equality being feasible.  Meanwhile more than one quarter of LGBT households in Colorado earn less than $25,000 per year [1] and civil unions are a way to provide much needed protections THIS year. Vermont, Washington DC, California, New Hampshire and Connecticut all had some form of civil unions or domestic partnerships before making a move to full marriage equality.  Maryland which currently has domestic partnerships appears ready to legislate full marriage this year. And nearly half the states that currently have trans-inclusive nondiscrimination laws achieved them through incrementalism. (i.e. passing sexual orientation protection one year and later adding gender identity) [2] I don’t believe any LGBT leader in Colorado finds civil unions to be an acceptable final or permanent solution.  Nor do I believe civil unions will delay the path to full equality. Instead civil unions will prime Colorado voters to accept full marriage equality.  A significant portion of Colorado’s LGBT community (including people I care about) are tremendously vulnerable, and civil unions would go a long way to help improve their lives. But it seems to me unfair and perhaps unintentionally out of touch for an anonymous commenter to ask the most vulnerable Coloradans to sacrifice for their activist ideals. My name is Daniel S. Gonzales. Sources cited: 1. http://www.one-colorado.org/issues/2010-needs-assessment/ 2. http://thetaskforce.org/reports_and_research/nondiscrimination_laws

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