Colorado couples challenge state gay marriage ban

Several same-sex Colorado couples have filed suit in Denver challenging the state constitution’s ban on gay marriage, saying it makes them second-class citizens.

In a statement after the suit was filed in Denver District Court Wednesday, Mindy Barton, legal director of the GLBT Community Center of Colorado said no one should be treated differently because of who they love. The Denver Post quoted the suit as saying the ban denies same-sex couples all the rights enjoyed by opposite-sex couples.

Another couple filed a similar suit in October in Adams County.

Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage in 2006. In 2013, the state assembly passed a same-sex civil unions law. Gay marriage advocates say civil unions are inferior to marriage.