Bill Allowing for Gay Couples to Adopt in Colorado

A new bill released today, Tuesday March 6, 2007 will allow gay and lesbian couples to adopt children in Colorado if the House of Representatives and Senate vote to pass it. House Bill 1330 is sponsored by House Representative Alice Madden (Boulder) and Senator Jennifer Veiga (Denver).

Currently, gay individuals are allowed to adopt a child in Colorado. However, same sex couples are not allotted this privilege.

The Denver Post reports that gay couples would have been allowed to adopt children under Referendum I. However, Coloradans voted against the referendum last fall. Referendum I would have allowed for gay couples to file for domestic partnerships, meaning gay couples would have had the right to hold property with rights of inheritance, cover a partner under a dependent for life and health insurance, commit one's partner to a mental health facility, allowed for protection under Colorado's domestic violence laws, and incur and be liable for debt together. The current House Bill differs from referendum I in that the house bill will only give gay couples the right to adopt children in the state of Colorado together.

H.B. 1330 would not only allow same sex couples to adopt in Colorado, it would also allow unmarried adults to share responsibility for an adopted child reports the Denver Post. Such a situation might occur if two siblings wish to adopt a child together. One sibling may hold responsibility for raising the child, but this new bill, if passed, would allow the other sibling to legally adopt the child as well. This allowance could be useful if one of the siblings were to become injured, disabled, or killed. The other sibling would automatically have the right to parent the adopted child.

Pat Steadman, a lobbyist for Equal Rights Colorado which is a group that supports gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual individuals and is backing the proposed bill told the Denver Post that most of the individuals who would take advantage of the bill would be those who already adopted a child in Colorado. Steadman says that gay couples may be raising these children together, but only one of the gay individuals has legally adopted the child.

If passed, House bill 1330 will have significant ramifications for children waiting to be adopted as well as adopters. The House of Representatives and State Senate will take the advantages and disadvantages under consideration when deciding whether to pass this bill. For all the latest coverage please visit www.colorado.gov.

Source:

The Denver Post: www.denverpost.com