BREAKING: CO. Speaker Blocks Civil Unions

Gov. John Hickenlooper

From the New York Times:

The legislation was voted down by Republican lawmakers on 5-to-4 vote along party lines after more than two hours of emotional testimony in the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, where it was assigned Monday by Republican leadership in the House of Representatives. 

“Even as nearly a dozen courageous Republicans are standing on the right side of history and supporting civil unions, House leadership is pandering to the far-right fringe of their party,” Brad Clark, executive director of One Colorado, a statewide gay and lesbian advocacy group, said in a statement after the vote...

...But if the special session breathed fresh life back into the legislation, it was short lived. 

On Monday, despite the urgings of civil-union supporters who rallied at the Capitol in Denver, House Speaker Frank McNulty, a Republican from Highlands Ranch, assigned the bill to the state affairs committee, which was dominated by opponents of the legislation.

Credit still goes to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper for calling the legislature back for a special session to try to pass this bill. Yet again, conservatives try to stand in the way of progress and justice. They can only fight the long defeat for so long.