Colorado House committee defeats civil unions after testimony from hate groups

Igor Volsky watched the proceedings in the Colorado Judiciary Committee last night and wrote a comprehensive post, complete with audio of some of the particularly homophobic testimony. All you really need to know is that Paul Cameron testified. John has been tracking Cameron for years. In 2005, a group Cameron chaired, the Family Research Institute, was designated a hate group by SPLC. Here's some of Cameron's work:

He told the 1985 Conservative Political Action Committee conference that "extermination of homosexuals" might be needed in the next three to four years. He has advocated tattooing AIDS patients in the face, and banishment to a former leper colony for any patient who resisted. He has called for gay bars to be closed and gays to be registered with the government.

Another designated hate group, The Alliance Defense Fund, also testified. So, yeah. That's who was testifying against civil unions in Colorado's State House.

Here's Igor's report:

Last night, Colorado’s House Judiciary Committee failed to advance Senate Bill-172, which would have allowed residents to enter into civil unions and provided same-sex couples with critical legal protections. The bill passed the Senate last week, but a motion to move the measure onto the Committee on Appropriations did not garner a majority and fell in a 5-6 party line vote. As the Denver Post reported, “it was clear that the vote was painful for some Republicans, including Rep. Brian DelGrosso of Loveland, whose uncle is gay. He bowed his head when voting “no.” “It was tough,” DelGrosso said afterward.”

Douglas Napier of the Alliance Defense Fund led the formal opposition against the bill and maintained that civil unions would likely lead to same-sex marriage, despite a 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The debate quickly disintegrated from there, as witnesses began quoting the Bible, regurgitating thoroughly debunked claims about ex-gay therapy and even predicting the end of times. The Family Research Institute’s Dr. Paul Cameron — whose so-called ‘research’ on homosexuality has been condemned and refuted by most major medical organizations in the United States and Canada — provided the most colorful testimony.

So Rep. Brian DelGrosso chose Paul Cameron over his uncle. Class act.

Here's Igor's compilation of ugly testimony: