Colo. conservatives see civil union-creep

DENVER, May 17 (UPI) -- Colorado conservatives say the state is gradually implementing the type of civil unions for homosexuals that voters rejected three years ago.

The Denver Post reported Sunday that gay-rights activists have been monitoring the developments in Colorado, which they consider a chipping away of legal barriers members of their community face in other states.

"We've done it largely in a way that's quiet and deliberate," said Pat Steadman, a representative of Equal Rights Colorado. "It has not generated a backlash or caused the sky to fall."

However, there has been opposition. The Post said Republican State Sen. Josh Penry contended that his Democratic colleagues have been "establishing civil unions through the installment plan."

But Penry, the minority leader in the State Senate, said was troubled by what called overzealousness in the civil-unions debate on the part of some advocates and opponents.

"Where the Republican Party has been wrong on this issue, and where the (liberal) crowd has been wrong, is the harshness of the rhetoric projected at the other side, the vitriol," he said.