Tag: Colorado

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Supreme Court Will Hear Case Of Homophobe Refusing Services To Gays Who Never Asked For Them

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case of a website designer who wants to advertise she won't create wedding websites for same-sex couples.
The U.S. Supreme Court (2021)

The Supreme Court has said it will hear the case of a Colorado website designer, Lorie Smith, who wants to be able to tell same-sex couples she won’t create a wedding website for them because it offends her religious beliefs.

Note – No same-sex couple has asked Smith to provide services to them. Continue reading “Supreme Court Will Hear Case Of Homophobe Refusing Services To Gays Who Never Asked For Them”

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2020 Voter Fraud Found In Colorado

Barry Morphew cast a ballot in the 2020 election for his missing wife
Barry Morphew reportedly admitted to committing 2020 voter fraud
Barry Morphew (mugshot)

Another example of that 2020 voter fraud Donald Trump keeps talking about was apparently found in Colorado.

From the Fox News affiliate KDVR in Denver:

Prosecutors have filed new charges against Barry Morphew, alleging the man accused of murdering his missing wife submitted a presidential ballot in her name. Morphew was recently arrested on charges of murdering his wife, Suzanne, after she disappeared a year ago. She still has yet to be found.

Court documents show he now faces one felony count for allegedly forging public documents and a misdemeanor mail in ballot offense. Bond has been set at $1,000 but he’s being held without bail on the murder charges.

According to the arrest affidavit, investigators responded to the Chaffee County Clerk and Recorder’s Office after the clerk made a report of alleged voter fraud in October of 2020. The clerk told investigators that they’d received a presidential ballot from Suzanne even though she was missing.

Morphew signed the ballot as the witness but didn’t include a signature for his missing wife.

When asked why he submitted the fraudulent ballot, Morphew told investigators, “Just because I wanted Trump to win.”

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MLB Announces All-Star Game Moved To Colorado

Logo for Major League Baseball

Logo for Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball has announced it will hold its annual All-Star Game in Denver, Colorado, after Georgia changed its voting laws in March which could potentially restrict voting access for people of color.

Of course, MLB has the right to hold its game anywhere it wants in an environment that it deems appropriate.

But Republicans are still mad at MLB for pulling its game from the Peach State, so they are now trying to compare Georgia’s new voting laws to those in Colorado.

One issue Repubs tried to press today was that Georgia now allows for 17 early voting days while Colorado has 15 early voting days. They also point to the idea that Colorado has a voter ID requirement as does Georgia.

But… it’s not that simple.

Colorado’s voter ID law for in-person voting (sometimes referred to as “non-strict”) allows for a variety of IDs including ones without photos. If voters don’t have ID on them at the time of voting, they can cast a provisional ballot and elections officials are charged with verifying their eligibility.

But Georgia’s in-person ID requirement is a “strict” law, requiring photo ID. And if a voter doesn’t have one with them at the polls, they can cast a provisional ballot, but the voter has to show a photo ID at a county registrar’s office within three days.

More importantly, though, Colorado votes almost universally via mail-in ballot.

All registered voters there receive an absentee ballot and almost 99% of voters there cast their votes via mail. So, the in-person ID requirement – and the number of early in-person voting days – is practically moot since the vast majority of ballots are cast by mail.

Also, as White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted today when asked about the “comparisons” by Fox News’s Peter Doocy, Colorado allows citizens to register to vote on election days which Georgia does not.

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Coronavirus Variant Has Shown Up In Colorado

Photo of coronavirus molecules
Photo of coronavirus molecules
(image via Depositphotos)

The Washington Post reports the first known case in the United States of a person infected with the coronavirus variant has that has been circulating rapidly across much of the United Kingdom has been discovered in Colorado.

Officials in the state believe the individual hasn’t had any close contacts but health authorities are conducting contact tracing interviews just in case.

Researchers have now detected the more transmissible variant in viral samples in at least 17 countries outside the United Kingdom, including as far away as Australia and South Korea, as of Tuesday afternoon. Officials in Canada had previously said they identified two cases, the first in North America.

In almost all instances. these cases have been in people who traveled from the United Kingdom, and there is no sign so far that the variant is spreading rapidly in these other countries, including the United States.

While the variant appears to spread more easily, it does not make people sicker or more likely to die, scientists in the United Kingdom reported late Monday.

The patient is a male in his 20s who is currently in isolation in Elbert County. He reportedly has no travel history, according to the tweet Gov. Jared Polis below.

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News Round-Up: July 15, 2020

Joe Blizzard (via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunks: Woofy Joe Blizzard (above), signaling in from Yosemite National Park, calls this “being a nerd, as usual.” Nerd???

• LGBTQ Nation: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed four pro-LGBTQ bills into law this week. The new laws range from banning gay/trans panic legal defenses in cases of violence, making PrEP easier for gay folks to obtain to prevent HIV infection, and making it easier for trans people to change the gender markers on their state ID documents.

• GMA: Mary Trump, niece to President Trump, whose new book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, was just released, speaking to ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos about her uncle: “He is utterly incapable of leading this country, and it’s dangerous to allow him to do so.” It’s worth noting that Ms. Trump is a trained clinical psychologist.

• Washington Blade: Facebook and Instagram have announced they will ban conversion therapy content/posts on their sites, following a block on paid ads promoting the practice earlier this year.

• Instinct Magazine: LA Pride has announced that it will be moving out of West Hollywood after almost five decades of celebration citing ongoing construction in West Hollywood Park as well as the changing demographics of Greater Los Angeles.

• VOTE: Eight of America’s leading fitness photographers have joined forces for “Flex Your Vote,” a new campaign that urges the LGBTQ community and its allies to the polls this November.

“It’s painfully clear why this is the most important time in our lifetimes to vote,” says Mike Ruiz, the campaign’s organizer. “We are being engulfed by a pandemic, millions are unemployed, the government is riddled with corruption. We need to change the direction of this country or we are headed towards a dictatorship where we will be stripped of our rights.”

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Restaurant’s License Suspended After Opening For Mother’s Day During COVID-19 Shutdown

C&C Coffee and Kitchen on Mother’s Day 2020 during COVID-19 pandemic (screen capture)

From Colorado Community Media:

A Castle Rock restaurant reopened its doors to full dine-in service May 10, allowing dozens of customers inside despite public health orders put in place in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

C&C Coffee and Kitchen, a breakfast and Korean kitchen at 4284 Trail Boss Drive, had a line out the door about 10 a.m. Mother’s Day. Families of all sizes filed in past a “bouncer” with a visible sidearm. Every seat was taken as folks dined in. The floor was packed with people standing, waiting for coffee or take-out orders. One person could be seen wearing a mask inside the building.

“I expected it to be busy. I never expected this,” owner April Arellano said. “I’m so happy so many people came out to support the Constitution and stand up for what is right. We did our time. We did our two weeks. We did more than two weeks…and we were failing. We had to do something.”

The Tri-County Health Department says it received four complaints about the reopening.

The Denver Post reports the restaurant has now lost its license to operate.

State health officials on Monday suspended the license of a Castle Rock restaurant that opened to large Mother’s Day crowds, a warning to other Colorado eateries that might also consider defying the statewide public health order that limits restaurants to take-out and delivery services.

C&C Coffee and Kitchen presents an “immediate health hazard,” Gov. Jared Polis said at a news conference, and its business license will be suspended until it no longer creates a threat to public health — likely for at least 30 days.

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After $700K Fund-Raiser, Pence Skips Town Without Paying $24K Police Bill

As if it wasn't enough that gay quislings were allowing their business to be used by the anti-LGBTQ politician, it seems Pence skipped out of town without paying the local police for the added security to the tune of $24,000.
Vice President Mike Pence

I recently reported that Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to attend a campaign fund-raiser at a gay-owned club in Colorado.

As if it wasn’t enough that gay quislings were allowing their business to be used by the anti-LGBTQ politician, it seems Pence skipped out of town without paying the local police for the added security to the tune of $24,000.

From the Aspen Daily News:

The host has yet to step forward to pay the roughly $24,000 bill for increased security provided by local authorities — and the effect on taxpayers goes beyond Pitkin County, Sheriff Joe DiSalvo noted.

“We had a SWAT team from Garfield County here that I want to see get reimbursed. We had Carbondale officers here that I want to see get reimbursed. They don’t have this kind of money — I don’t have this kind of money,” DiSalvo said.

He estimated that Pence was in Aspen for less than 24 hours. During that time, the vice president headlined Monday’s $35,000-per-couple fundraiser at the Caribou Club and addressed the Republican Governors Association at its closed-door quarterly meeting at the St. Regis Aspen Resort on Tuesday morning. Pence did not speak to the general public.

“We had 64 total police officers on that assignment in the 20 or so hours that he was here, totaling 519 person hours,” DiSalvo said. “Out of those 64, 14 were state troopers, and we don’t have a responsibility to pay them. But the 50 other cops that were here are all on the county dime.

“I guess the whole thing is generally just somewhat disappointing to me,” DiSalvo continued. “You raise $700,000 in an hour, you should be able to pitch in to support the community that made you feel welcome.”

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Colorado Becomes 18th State To Ban Conversion Therapy

Governor Jared Polis - the country’s first openly gay governor - has signed two pieces of legislation into law that are vital to the health and safety of LGBTQ youth in Colorado.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis

Governor Jared Polis – the country’s first openly gay governor – has signed two pieces of legislation into law that are vital to the health and safety of LGBTQ youth in Colorado.

HB19-1039 will allow transgender Coloradans to more easily update the gender on their birth certificate, enabling them to have the identification documents that match who they are. Coloradans will be able to update their gender on their birth certificate to M, F, or X — without a surgery, a doctor’s note, or court order.

Removing both the surgery requirement and court order requirement allows transgender people the ability to self-identify on their ID document. Colorado is the third state in the country (following California and Oregon) to have non-binary gender options for both driver’s licenses and birth certificates.

HB19-1129 will ban a state-licensed mental health care provider from engaging in the discredited, harmful practice of conversion therapy on a patient under 18 years of age. 

Conversion therapy is the discredited and dangerous practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. 
A physician or mental health care provider who violates this provision engages in unprofessional conduct under the applicable professional licensing board. Colorado will be the 18th state in the country to protect minors from conversion therapy.
The harmful practice is widely opposed by prominent professional medical associations including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
A 2018 study found that the rate of attempted suicide by LGBTQ youth whose parents tried to change their sexual orientation was more than double the rate of LGBTQ youth who reported no such attempts. 
“The Trevor Project is proud to stand with One Colorado and all of the amazing lawmakers and advocates in the Centennial State as they become the 18th state in the country to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangers of conversion therapy,” said Sam Brinton, Head of Advocacy and Government Affairs for The Trevor Project. 
“Watching the first openly LGBTQ governor in the nation sign this legislation is an especially humbling moment,” he added. “Trevor will continue working across the nation until this horrible practice is relegated to the dustbin of history.”