Today, One Colorado, the state’s leading advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Coloradans, announced John Hickenlooper as a Pro-Equality Champion for his long record as a champion for the LGBTQ community.
“Despite making significant progress in recent years, members of the LGBTQ community and their families are still facing steep barriers in achieving true equality,” Daniel Ramos, Executive Director, One Colorado. “One of the easiest and most significant ways of dismantling these barriers is to ensure that pro-equality champions are in positions to drive policy and legislation, which we can achieve simply by participating in the democratic process. The stakes could not be higher. This is a pivotal moment for our community.”
“Thank you to One Colorado for naming me a pro-equality candidate,” said Hickenlooper. “I’ve been honored to work alongside you and am proud of what we’ve accomplished here in Colorado. We’ve made tremendous strides for equality, from civil unions and marriage equality to expanding protections for the LGBTQ community in family and medical leave and standing up against religious discrimination. Unfortunately, in a broken Washington DC, we’re seeing constant threats to strip protections for LGBTQ people across our country. When these fundamental rights are under attack, all Americans are threatened. I will always stand up for equality and the LGBTQ community, and with your help I hope to be able to do that as Colorado’s next Senator.”
As Governor, Hickenlooper signed a civil unions bill into law and backed marriage equality in 2014. He also signed legislation to expand the Family Medical Leave Act in Colorado to include gay and lesbian couples, update the state’s prohibition on profiling for law enforcement to include sexual orientation and gender identity, and implement new rules in the Colorado Civil Rights Division to include additional protections for the LGBTQ community. He has consistently made clear his opposition to religious discrimination and in 2018 was named as a defendant in the Masterpiece Cakeshop lawsuit.
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