Senator Johnston voted last week in favor of SB 12-002, helping to pass the bill that grants same-sex couples the right to form civil unions. The bill now moves to the House.
During his remarks in support of the bill, Senator Johnston said that recognizing civil unions is akin to living up to the Bible’s lesson of unconditional love, and compared this moment to that in 1954 when the Supreme Court finally ruled against “separate but equal” in Brown v. Board of Education.
The question was a fair one: couldn’t we just keep white kids and black kids separate if we really gave them all the exact same experience? . . . Chief Justice Warren wrote in that opinion was that separation, that refusal to recognize, puts upon young black children a badge of inferiority. And that is even worse when that inferiority is sanctioned by the law. It makes that badge that much harder to carry.
He also spoke personally about the challenges his own children already face in their “climb toward adulthood,” which would be even more difficult if they grow up to be gay.
I know if one of my kids has that hill to climb, that hill is going to be steeper. I see no reason why the State of Colorado should put the sanction of law on making that climb even tougher.
Watch the video of his remarks below:
