June 29, 2015 12:14 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (June 29)

• 3 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

It’s been three days, and gay marriage still hasn’t destroyed your “traditional” marriage–really! It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► LGBT rights advocates local and national are basking in the afterglow of Friday’s historic U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage once and for all. With this civil rights milestone achieved, the next logical step–stamping out discrimination against LGBT Americans–looms large:

Longtime gay-rights advocates such as political strategist Ted Trimpa contrasted Friday’s announcement with the memory of disappointment in 1992 when the state’s voters approved the anti-gay Amendment 2.

“Take that feeling and pair it with the joy of seeing the decision this morning,” said Trimpa. “It’s quite a journey.”

But he joined many others in cautioning that even in the wake of this legal victory, that journey still has miles to go.

“Over half the states in this country still allow a person to be fired, denied housing or denied services at a business, just because they’re gay,” Trimpa said. “So we’re all going to wake up and it’s like Alabama: Somebody could get married, take a marriage picture and put it on their desk — and get fired.”

Down the street at the Western Conservative Summit this weekend, a very different view of the same decision from GOP presidential hopefuls and religious right activists:

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, the first presidential nominee to speak at the Summit, was among them. He thinks the ruling redefined marriage. If it’s not about procreative sex for the sake of stable family units, it’s not marriage. “Now we are faced with a society that says marriage has nothing to do with children,” he said. “If the family goes, there’s nothing left.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council — a conservative Christian lobbying group — followed up. He, too, objected to the Supreme Court’s ruling on moral grounds, reiterating that marriage is an institution defined as the union between one man and one woman for the purpose of child-bearing. “The Supreme Court does not have the moral authority to change what it did not create,” he said…

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee echoed that sentiment, but chose a different historical ruling for comparison. “Conservatives can do same thing that Abraham Lincoln did about the Dred Scott decision of 1857,” he said. “[Lincoln] simply ignored the ruling and said, ‘That’s not correct.’”

All of which casts the recent embarrassing fight over the Log Cabin Republicans’ exclusion from the Western Conservative Summit in sharp relief.

► Meanwhile in the Colorado Supreme Court, a major decision announced today striking down Douglas County’s controversial religious school voucher program.

► In case you missed it Friday, The Coffmangate scandal took a turn for the comedic after the Colorado Republican Party’s executive committee voted almost unanimously–22 to 1–to support chairman Steve House after nearly two weeks of a dissenting faction led by Attorney General Cynthia Coffman trying to force him to resign. Another round of damning blackmail admissions Friday by Cynthia Coffman may keep the story going despite House’s attempts to lead everyone in singing Kumbaya. Stay tuned…

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Parents in Jefferson County have filed petition language for a recall campaign against the conservative Jeffco school board majority, setting up what may be the marquee battle of this fall’s off-year elections.

► GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul is raising money from the marijuana industry in Denver. Isn’t President Barack Obama the biggest reason you can buy a legal dime bag though?

► Rep. Scott Tipton got a bill passed in the U.S. House last week that strips money from the Environmental Protection Agency to fund wildfire management. This sort of gameplaying with the EPA’s budget is popular among Republicans these days, since it’s easier to sell than simply cutting the EPA.

► Colorado Republicans are spending an incredible amount of time badmouthing a universal health care ballot measure that has no actual chance of success, hoping to use gotcha phrases like “$25 billion tax increase” to attack even Democrats who have nothing to do with the proposal.

► Another day, another round of ugly press for the Colorado Department of Human Services. Very hard to defend the failures there, and we don’t really plan to try.

► Colorado’s new bipartisan elder abuse law takes effect Wednesday.

► GOP El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn is enjoying another 15 minutes of fame as a minor candidate for the U.S. Senate. Who are we to rain on his tiny little parade?

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The Denver Post has a thoughtful write-up on the debate over the Confederate flag in the wake of the Charleston church shootings.

► Denver County Jail is under intense scrutiny after revelations of widespread abuses–but one area where the facility is actually ahead of the pack is dealing with transgender detainees.

ICYMI

► The Denver Business Journal has interviews with former Colorado House Speakers Frank McNulty and Terrance Carroll on life after the legislature.

Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!