Colorado house may not endorse Musgrave amendment

Colorado congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave's proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same-sex marriage likely won't get support from her home-state colleagues. There are enough votes in the Colorado house, where Musgrave served for four years, to kill a resolution supporting the amendment, said Rep. Mark Larson (R-Cortez). "I'd like nothing more than to send a message to Congresswoman Musgrave that her own state doesn't support her effort," said Larson, adding that Colorado law already bans gay marriage. Musgrave's proposed amendment defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Larson said he supports the principle but doesn't believe it should be added to the Constitution. "The Constitution gives freedoms," Larson said. "It doesn't take them away." Rep. Kevin Lundberg, who sponsored the resolution, conceded he doesn't have the votes and has informed Musgrave of that. Musgrave's chief of staff, Guy Short, said the congresswoman is focused on getting the two-thirds support she needs in the U.S. House and Senate. He said she is confident Colorado will support the proposal when it goes to the states for ratification. "Regardless of the outcome [of the resolution], it is clear that the majority of Coloradans support marriage as between a man and a woman," Short said. Michael Brewer, public policy director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Center of Colorado, said he was encouraged that legislators weren't lining up to support the Musgrave amendment. "I think the failure of our legislature to support this amendment sends a strong message to people who would use our Constitution to promote a very narrow political and religious agenda," Brewer said.