Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Colorado enjoy the same rights as non-LGBTQ people. In 1972, Colorado became one of the first U.S. states to decriminalize same-sex sexual activity. Same-sex marriage has been recognized since October 2014, and the state enacted civil unions in 2013, which provide some of the rights and benefits of marriage. State law also prohibits discrimination on account of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations and the use of conversion therapy on minors. In July 2020, Colorado became the 11th U.S. state to abolish the gay panic defense.

Colorado is frequently referred to as one of the most LGBT-friendly states in the Mountain West. The LGBT think tank Movement Advancement Project ranks Colorado second in the region for LGBTQ rights legislation, behind Nevada. 2019 polling from the Public Religion Research Institute showed that 77% of Colorado residents supported anti-discrimination legislation protecting LGBTQ people.

History and law regarding same-sex sexual activity

The Arapaho, who now live on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, recognize male-bodied individuals who act, behave and live as women, referred to as haxu'xan. The haxu'xan, like women, are traditionally in charge of food preparation and dressing hides to make clothing and bedding. They form a "third gender" in Arapaho society, and can even marry men. The Arapaho believe their gender is "a supernatural gift from birds and animals".Sabine Lang, Men as Women, Women as Men , 2010

In 1860, sodomy was made illegal in Colorado, then the Jefferson Territory, under its first criminal code, which indirectly prohibited sodomy by expressly recognizing common law, under which the maximum penalty for sodomy was death. In 1861, the U.S. Congress created the Colorado Territory, whose government enacted a criminal code that punished sodomy (as defined by common law) with penalties ranging from one year to life in prison. In 1922, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the ban did not prohibit fellatio (oral sex), even though the court felt that the behavior was "more vile and filthy than sodomy".The Pacific Reporter, vol. 263, 22: Robinson v. People, 23 Colo. 123, 46 p. 676 The law was revised in 1939 to expressly cover anal intercourse and oral sex, whether heterosexual or homosexual, and the maximum penalty was reduced to fourteen years. In 1953, Colorado enacted a psychopathic offender law that provided for indefinite institutionalization for committing sex crimes, thus putting homosexuals in the same category as rapists and child molesters. The law was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 in Specht v. Patterson, holding that the law was "unconstitutional because the defendants were not afforded basic due process of law in the proceedings". In 1970, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the sodomy ban also included cunnilingus.

In 1971, Colorado revised its penal code and decriminalized sodomy in cases that involved non-commercial, private acts between consenting adults. At the same time, it instituted a public indecency law that banned public displays of affection between same-sex couples. The Colorado Supreme Court struck down that statute in 1974. The Gay Coalition of Denver contributed to the decriminalization of four of the discriminatory laws in the city of Denver. Their City Council Revolt in 1972 was the first time a LGBTQ advocacy organization joined to force law changes.

Recognition of same-sex relationships

In 1975, the Boulder County Clerk issued marriage licenses to several same-sex couples after the local district attorney interpreted Colorado's statutes, which used the phrase "any two persons", to be gender-neutral with respect to marriage. State Attorney General J.D. MacFarlane issued a contrary opinion that those marriages were invalid. When one of those married in Boulder tried to use it to sponsor his husband for immigration purposes, he lost his case, Adams v. Howerton, in federal court.Leagle, Inc.: Adams v. Howerton, 486 F. Supp. 1119 (C.D.Cal.1980) . Accessed July 30, 2011 In 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reversed its decision from 1975 and granted permanent residency status to Anthony Sullivan, based on his marriage to Richard Adams in Boulder on April 21, 1975.

In 1996, Governor Roy Romer vetoed legislation which would have banned recognition of same-sex marriages. In his notice to the General Assembly, Governor Romer wrote "It is one thing to believe, as I do, that marriage is for the union of a man and woman. It is quite another to believe that committed same sex relationships do not exist and should not be recognized by society." In 2006, a state referendum added language to the Colorado Constitution that restricted marriage and common law marriage to couples of different sexes, without mentioning civil unions or domestic partnerships. In November 2024, over 64% of Colorado voters called Amendment J repealed the 2006 anti-gay clause within the state constitution.

In April 2009, Colorado enacted a designated beneficiaries law, effective July 1, that allowed anyone to make a same-sex partner the beneficiary of insurance, inheritance, hospital visitations, funeral arrangements and death benefits, and other important matters.

In 2011 and 2012, state lawmakers attempted but failed to pass an act formally recognizing civil unions, though Governor John Hickenlooper endorsed the legislation in his 2012 State of the State address. In March 2013, both houses of the Democratic-controlled General Assembly passed legislation establishing civil unions that provide rights comparable to those provided to opposite-sex married couples and Governor Hickenlooper signed the bill into law on March 21, 2013. The law went into effect on May 1, 2013.

Governor Hickenlooper signed a bill permitting joint state income tax filing for civil partners and out-of-state same-sex married couples.

On February 19, 2014, nine same-sex couples, some unmarried and some married in other jurisdictions, filed a lawsuit in state court challenging the state's definition of marriage and arguing that civil unions created a "second-class level of citizenship" for gays and lesbians. The suit, McDaniel-Miccio v. Hickenlooper, named Governor Hickenlooper and the Denver City Clerk as defendants. The clerk expressed support for same-sex marriage. Attorney General John Suthers, a Republican, announced he would defend the state's definition of marriage. On October 6, Suthers asked the Tenth Circuit to dismiss his appeal and lift the stay after the U.S. Supreme Court left in place as binding precedent other Tenth Circuit decisions holding bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional in Oklahoma and Utah. Same-sex marriage became legal on October 7, 2014 after the Colorado Supreme Court lifted the last legal barriers and Attorney General John Suthers told clerks around the state to begin issuing licenses.

In January 2021, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the state must retroactively recognize common-law same-sex marriages that occurred prior to legalization in 2014.

In December 2024, it was reported that the building that conducted the first marriage license to a same-sex couple in the 1970s by Clela Rorex, a Boulder County clerk became officially a national monument.

Adoption and parenting A single LGBT person and same-sex couples can petition to adopt in Colorado. Second-parent adoptions are permitted under state law, though the process is more elaborate and expensive than that required of married couples.

Lesbian couples can access assisted reproduction services, such as in vitro fertilization. State law recognizes the non-genetic, non-gestational mother as a legal parent to a child born via donor insemination, but only if the parents are married. While there are no specific surrogacy laws in Colorado, the courts have ruled that the practice is legal and surrogacy contracts can be recognized as legally valid. Both gestational and traditional contracts are recognized, though the latter may result in potential legal conflicts and more litigation than the former. The state treats different-sex and same-sex couples equally under the same terms and conditions.

Several Catholic adoption agencies do not place children either with single persons or with same-sex couples.

On May 20, 2022, Governor Jared Polis signed "Marlo's Law," a bill to reform adoption and parentage laws that apply to children conceived through IVF. Non-gestational parents still have to adopt their own children, even when they are biologically related to the child and married to a legal parent, but the process has become simpler. The bill had passed both houses of the Colorado General Assembly with amendments to specify that it doesn't apply to children conceived through surrogacy.

Discrimination protections

It has been illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and credit since the category "sexual orientation" was added to the state's anti-discrimination law in 2008. The bill was controversial and following its passage by the General Assembly opponents waged a media campaign that failed to persuade Governor Bill Ritter to withhold his signature. State statutes define "sexual orientation" as "an individual's orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status or another individual's perception thereof."

Moreover, the state's anti-bullying law prohibits bullying on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, ancestry, or need for special education services. The law, which also includes cyberbullying, applies to all school districts, and requires them to "adopt a safe school plan and conduct and discipline code that contains a specific policy addressing bullying prevention and education", including regular surveys of students' impression, character building, the designation of a team of persons at each school to advise the school administration concerning the severity and frequency of bullying incidents, and requirements for how the conduct and discipline code must by publicized.

On November 3, 1992, Colorado voters approved Initiative 2, an initiated constitutional amendment, which added language to the State Constitution that prohibited the state and all of its subdivisions from allowing "homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships" to provide the basis for any "claim any minority status, quota preferences, protected status or claim of discrimination." In 1994, the Colorado Supreme Court found the amendment unconstitutional. In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Romer v. Evans that the amendment, because it "allows discrimination against homosexuals and prevents the state from protecting them", was "motivated by animus towards homosexuals" and violated their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In June 2012, a gay couple who had married in Massachusetts tried to purchase a wedding cake at a bakery in Lakewood, and were refused. They sued to force the bakery to provide them with the same services as other customers, and on December 6 Administrative Law Judge Robert N. Spencer ruled for the plaintiffs in Craig v. Masterpiece Cakeshop. He dismissed the bakery's claim that requiring the business to provide the service violated its owner's rights to free speech or religious expression. In June 2018, this ruling was thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court on a 7 to 2 ruling in favor of the defendant, in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.