Colorado Civil Liberties On the Brink: Why Your Vote Matters

The margins between advancing, losing or just holding ground in civil liberties are very narrow in a state like Colorado. Voters would do well to pay attention to what goes on in the legislature and to take seriously the threat of legislation.
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Emboldened by some of last November's election results, Colorado legislators have flooded this year's legislative session with bills that would roll back civil rights and civil liberties in our state. The ACLU of Colorado and our allies inside and outside of the Capitol have been successful so far in stopping the most outrageous attacks, but just a tiny shift in a few key races last November would have left Colorado in a very different place, where these bills would have been much harder to defeat and our whole state might have been sent backwards by decades.

Despite the clear will of Colorado voters to protect women's reproductive rights last November, legislators have introduced at least eight bills this session to limit or ban abortion and other reproductive rights for women, including the same fetal personhood notion that voters just rejected. Thanks to dogged resistance from the ACLU of Colorado and our statewide partners, these bills have so far all been defeated.

In the House of Representatives, three "right-to-discriminate" bills were introduced that, if passed, would eviscerate long-standing protections against discrimination. The lawmakers pushing these bills claim they are about religious freedom and freedom of expression, but they were written so broadly that they would actually give any person or business in Colorado wide license to discriminate against anyone for any reason, violating equal protection rights and creating a hostile climate for customers. Fortunately, many members of the business community, including the Denver Metro Chamber and several small business owners, have lined up alongside faith leaders and social justice organizations to rebuke these dangerous attempts to legalize discrimination.

At least ten other bills that were introduced this year were designed to repeal or roll back other civil liberties, by attacking voting rights, repealing worker protections, or singling out transgender Coloradans for special discrimination. Again, the ACLU of Colorado has rallied our allies to fight back against every attack, so that the freedoms and protections that we've worked so hard to advance over the years will not be eroded.

One especially difficult battle right now is over a ploy by members of the Joint Budget Committee to undercut and essentially defund a law passed in 2013 by the full legislature to allow immigrant Coloradans access to drivers' licenses. Legislators who did not support that law do not have the votes to repeal it, but they are attempting to use their new positions of power to deny funding that is generated by the program itself, not by taxpayers, all to the harm of thousands of families and the safety of our roads, just to make a political point.

The margins between advancing, losing or just holding ground in civil liberties are very narrow in a state like Colorado. Voters would do well to pay attention to what goes on in the legislature and to take seriously the threat of legislation that may sound outrageous or laughable now, but that would be anything but funny if a few more races had tipped toward politicians who don't respect civil liberties.

In some cases, the threat is real even in the current legislature, so your voice matters now to help hold the line against bad bills that target our rights. At the same time, the ACLU is always willing to work across political lines, and there are still good opportunities for progress in this legislature on issues such as privacy and criminal justice reform. The ACLU's alignment is with civil liberties, not political parties. More information about this legislative session can be found at the ACLU of Colorado legislative update page.

Your voice and your vote are needed, this year and every year. If you did vote last November, thank you, because it matters. Just look at some of the states where voting rights, reproductive rights and protections against discrimination are under heavy attack and remember--there but for a handful of votes goes Colorado.

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