Source: Associated Press via CBS4Denver, and Colorado Springs Gazette
A year after protecting gays and lesbians from being fired from their jobs, state lawmakers are considering outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation in other areas.

A new bill sponsored by Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, would make it illegal to deny gays and lesbians everything from an apartment rental to a burial plot. It takes the state's existing anti-discrimination laws and adds sexual orientation to the list of factors, such as race and national origin, that can't be considered.

Veiga’s new bill would add “sexual orientation” to the list of conditions one cannot discriminate against. The anti-discrimination law would apply in housing, employment, places of public accommodation, sales of cemetery plots, issuance of credit and 18 other circumstances. It defines sexual orientation as “a person’s orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status or another person’s perception thereof."

The proposal would also bar public school teachers from being transferred based on their sexual orientation and wouldn't allow charities who own orphanages or nursing homes to get a tax break if they discriminate against occupants based on sexual orientation.

The bill would also bar discrimination based on someone's religion. Discrimination based on creed is already mentioned in a number of the state's anti-discrimination laws but the new bill also adds religion to the list.

The bill would require the governor to appoint four members to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission who might be discriminated against because of sexual orientation or other categories included in the state's human rights laws.

Jim Pfaff, president of the Colorado Family Institute, a public policy group with links to the right-wing anti-gay group Focus on the Family, opposes the bill because of both of the changes.

"This bill is bigoted against people of religious faith," said Pfaff, who said it was "payback" for rich Democratic donors like Tim Gill.

The Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper editorialized against Viega's bill. Focus on Family and other prominent evangelical religious groups are based in Colorado Springs.

"In a country founded to protect freedom, we must have the right to discriminate," the newspaper's editorial board wrote.

The paper's editors suggest several areas where, they say, anti-discrimination laws prevent what they regard as free expressive. Among the situation cited: "Imagine a radical Muslim job seeker, sporting an anti-Zion lapel pin, seeking a job from a Jewish employer. Anti-discrimination laws prevent the Jewish employer from telling the applicant to buzz off,"

"In Colorado and throughout the country, our options to exercise reasonable forms of discrimination disappear with every act of political opportunism that comes along."

Full article: cbs4denver.com - Lawmakers Consider More Gay Anti-Discrimination Protections
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