Issue 11 Volume 41
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Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY Craig F. Walker / The Denver Post
COLORADO WINS CIVIL UNIONS Two Republicans join majority in historic House vote by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A bill giving Colorado’s LGBT residents the ability to form civil unions has cleared its final legislative hurdle. The Colorado House passed the
Republican House leaders blocked the bill at the last minute, however, sending it back to committee and effectively killing it for the year. But after Democratic gains in the 2012 election, openly Gay Democrat Mark Ferrandino be-
nary vote, it was clear that the bill would be passed the next day. “This bill is about three simple things,” Ferrandino said at the start of the debate. “It’s about love, it’s about family, and it’s about equality under the law.”
“Across the country, we’ve seen a sea change in public opinion on this issue. A vast majority of Coloradans support providing committed same-sex couples with the security they need, and these fair-minded folks are glad to see civil unions finally passed.” bill, SB 11, by a 39-26 vote on March 12, about a month after the Senate did likewise. The measure now goes to Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has promised to sign it into law. All the House Democrats joined with two Republicans in voting to legalize civil unions. Last year, when Republicans controlled the House, as many as five Republican legislators were reportedly prepared to support the bill, enough to pass it.
came Speaker of the House, and he expedited the legislation. Besides Ferrandino, four other House members and two Senators are openly Gay. “We are equal in many ways to the 60 members of this body – our love is not equal, and our families are not equal,” Ferrandino said during the debate. The House initially approved the civil unions bill on March 11, the day before the final vote on the measure. After the prelimi-
LGBT ADVOCATES CHEER Brad Clark, executive director of LGBT rights group One Colorado, hailed the legislature’s vote. “This historic victory belongs to the thousands of committed couples across the state, who have worked tirelessly for three years to make it possible for all loving families to have the protection they need to take care of one another,” Clark said. see colorado page 7
Colorado House Speaker Mark Ferrandino (r) kisses his partner, Greg Wertsch, following a vote on a bill allowing Gay couples to form civil unions
Meet the new Pope, mostly Space Needle labor the same as the old Pope dispute heats up Why the LGBT community shouldn’t expect changes under Francis Ongoing flying Rainbow Flag fracas north country public radio
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
is just one part of a larger conflict
courtesy unite here local 8
By choosing the papal name Francis, after the popular St. Francis of Assisi, Jorge Mario Bergoglio clearly intended to indicate that his papacy would be different from that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. But the two popes are much more alike than not. There are cosmetic differences: Francis is affable and humble, where Benedict was fussy and authoritarian. Francis chose to wear the simplest white cassock and his old pewter crucifix, while Benedict liked fancy dress. Francis has the common touch, while Benedict was cerebral and distant. Members of Unite Here Local 8 rally at the Space Needle Both popes, however, were proby the Wright family, whose contégés of John Paul II and allies in by Mike Andrew struction company built it for the his campaign to make the Catho- SGN Staff Writer Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. lic Church a right-wing political The family’s conservative poforce. The long-simmering dispute between the Space Needle, the litical commitments have not alFOUGHT MARRIAGE LAW iconic symbol of Seattle, and its ways fit in with Seattle’s cherished As archbishop of Buenos Aires, nearly 200 employees is heating progressive image. Space Needle then-Cardinal Bergoglio fiercely up. Some 100 people picketed the Corporation chair Jeff Wright was opposed the marriage equality law Needle on March 14 in support of a major donor to Republican Rob McKenna’s gubernatorial camintroduced by the Argentine gov- the landmark’s workers. Although the Space Needle may paign. And last June, Space Neeseem like a public institution, it see pope page 19 has always been privately owned see space needle page 5
The newly elected Pope Francis
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