In his State of the State address today, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) urged lawmakers to pass civil unions legislation:

HICKENLOOPER: As we strive to make Colorado healthier, we believe in equal rights for all regardless of race, creed, gender or sexual orientation. We don’t believe we should legislate what happens inside a church or place of worship, but government should treat all people equally.

It’s time to pass civil unions.

Republicans on Colorado’s House Judiciary Committee blocked passage of a civil unions bill last spring, but advocates have committed to reintroducing the measure. A December poll showed that 76 percent of Colorado voters support legal recognition for same-sex couples through either marriage or civil unions.

Iowan Zach Wahls testified last year about being raised by lesbian moms.

A new study from the University of Amsterdam and the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study examined the quality of life of 17 year olds raised in lesbian-parent families and found them to be as happy and well-adjusted as those raised by opposite-sex parents:

In conclusion, the reported [Quality of Life] for adolescent offspring in planned lesbian families is similar to that reported by the matched adolescents in heterosexual-parent families. This finding supports earlier evidence that adolescents reared by lesbian mothers from birth do not manifest more adjustment difficulties (e.g., depression, anxiety, and disruptive behaviors) than those reared by heterosexual parents.

In addition, the study found that the children of lesbian couples who separate do not experience the same behavioral problems as children of divorced heterosexual couples. Researchers conclude this is because lesbian parents are more likely to share custody after separating and shared child rearing is associated with more favorable outcomes. The only distinguishing experience that the children of lesbians faced was being treated unfairly by classmates, teachers, extended family, and other adults because of their family’s make-up.

Given the recent flurry of claims that being “fatherless” should be a concern for the children of lesbian couples, this timely study confirms that what children truly need is two committed parents. If opponents of same-sex marriage truly cared about the well-being of children, they would focus on minimizing the anti-gay stigma against them rather than working to reinforce it.

Last week, mega church leader Joel Osteen told Oprah Winfrey that he believes gay people will be accepted into Heaven, even though homosexuality is a “sin.” “I believe that homosexuality is shown as a sin in the Scripture, I do.”

However, Joel M. Hoffman, a linguist who specializes in Biblical translation, is calling out the popular Evangelical for “hiding behind Scripture” and cherry picking the parts of the Bible he chooses to believe:

When Piers Morgan asked him in October whether he supports the Biblical position of a life for a life, Pastor Osteen admitted (in this video): “I don’t know,” because the death penalty is a “complicated issue.”

In other words, Pastor Osteen doesn’t feel compelled to support everything in Scripture. He openly ignores Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, and Dueteronomy 19:21. He reserves the right — as we all do — to pick and choose. This is why I don’t think there’s any merit or integrity to his argument that he is forced to condemn homosexuality because Scripture calls it a sin.

Hoffman also disagrees with the popular “translation” of Leviticus 18:22, which says “Do not practice homosexuality; it is a detestable sin.” “The Hebrew in Leviticus — as is widely known — is more complicated,” he argues and notes that when the translation “introduces the word ‘sin’ for the Hebrew to’evah, I think it has left the realm of translation behind, replacing it with their understanding of modern dogma.”

Historians like John Boswell have similarly written that to’evah refers “to something which is ritually unclean for Jews like eating pork or engaging in intercourse during menstruation.” Condemnation of homosexuality arises within the context of Mosaic Law, whose restrictive rules and specifications were actually dismissed by early Christian leaders trying to attract a large number of Christian converts, Boswell argued, suggesting that Christian leaders are again cherry picking passages that correlate with or substantiate the prejudices of today’s Church leaders.

Sen. Bo Watson (R), sponsor of the transphobic bathroom bill.

If it weren’t discouraging enough that the Tennessee legislature will consider a “license to bully” bill and reconsider the “don’t say gay” bill, the new session has opened with the introduction of a blatantly transphobic bathroom bill. Sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson (R), the bill (SB 2282) would institute a $50 fine for anybody who does not use the public restroom or dressing room that matches the sex identification on his or her birth certificate:

(b)  Except as provided in § 68-15-303, where a restroom or dressing room in a public building is designated for use by members of one particular sex, only members of that particular sex shall be permitted to use that restroom or dressing room.

(c)  A violation of subsection (b) is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a to a fine of fifty dollars ($50.00).

If passed, this bill would make Tennessee a particularly unfriendly place for people who are transgender. Tennessee law does not allow for the sex to be changed on birth certificates, which means this law would make it illegal for transgender people to utilize any public accommodations that match their gender. It would also impose on any businesses — such as Macy’s — that have transgender-inclusive policies.

Last year, the Family Action Council of Tennessee ran transphobic ads to support a bill that banned all municipal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people. The ads rehashed the “bathroom meme,” the fear that all transgender people are sexual predators trying to use the wrong restroom to find children to abuse. In reality, there has never been a case of someone using a transgender identity to molest children, nor is there anything to suggest that this bill would do anything to make children safer from actual predators. (HT: Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition.)