Crossposted with permission from The Colorado Independent.
A prominent national gay rights organization on Tuesday blasted Colorado state Sen. Scott Renfroe for comparing homosexuality to murder when he spoke Monday against a bill that would extend health benefits to same-sex domestic partners of state employees.
After quoting Scripture to call homosexual behavior a "detestable act," the Greeley Republican said it would be "an abomination according to Scripture" for the Legislature to "(take) sins and (make) them to be legally OK."
He continued: "I'm not saying (homosexuality) is the only sin that is out there. Obviously we have sin — we have murder, we have, we have all sorts of sin, we have adultery, and we don't make laws making those legal, and we would never think to make murder legal."
"These outrageously offensive comments warrant condemnation by all fair-minded people and should be ignored by the Colorado legislature as they move forward in passing overdue protections to state workers," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), in a statement.
HRC, which bills itself as the nation's "largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality," urged Renfroe's colleagues to "press ahead and protect hard-working Coloradoans" by passing the same-sex benefits bill.
The liberal activist group, ProgressNow Colorado, launched an email rapid response action to "tell Scott Renfroe what you think" and a "Reject Renfroe" Facebook page within hours of the speech going public.
The state Senate passed SB 88 — sponsored by the Legislature's two openly gay members, Sen. Jennifer Veiga and Rep. Mark Ferrandino, both Denver Democrats — on a voice vote after Renfroe spoke, and then gave final approval to the bill Tuesday morning by a margin of 22-12, with Republican Sens. Ken Kester and Al White joining Democrats voting in favor. The bill moves on to the House for consideration.
Read the rest of the story, including the blow-by-blow on Renfroe's comments at The Colorado Independent.