Bill is not specifically aimed at gay couples
Re “Conservative’s Bill Offers Some Rights to Gay Couples,” Feb. 12
Focus on the Family supports a reciprocal-beneficiaries measure being considered in the Colorado Senate. It would allow two people, who are not eligible to marry, to mutually designate authority over legal issues such as medical decisions and property sharing -- arrangements that can already be obtained through a contract.
The bill’s benefits would be available for any two people who meet the necessary criteria -- such as a parent and a disabled adult child, or two elderly siblings living together.
To suggest, as The Times’ article did, that this bill is designed to specially benefit gay and lesbian households is absurd -- those couples will be evaluated using the same criteria as everyone else. In fact, gay activists in Colorado loudly oppose the bill.
The reciprocal-beneficiaries bill codifies benefits already available, and it is based on need, not sex.
TOM MINNERY
Senior Vice President
Government and Public Policy
Focus on the Family
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
