According to CBS Denver and the Denver Post, Colorado’s governor John Hickenlooper signed a bill into law that repeals the crime of adultery. Bill supporters call the statute “outdated” and “19th century” and reasoned that government “must be kept out of people’s bedrooms.” The proposal also repeals a “rarely used” statute against providing places (such as hotel rooms) for unmarried people to have sex.
“It was put into law before Colorado was even a state as a way of reassuring people who were thinking of moving to Colorado, reassuring women who were thinking of moving to Colorado, that if their husbands fooled around on them, they would be protected by the law,” said Denver Democratic Rep. Daniel Kagan, who was an original supporter of the repeal. “I see it as saying adultery is a matter between a spouse and his conscience and his God, but not his local sheriff.”
The Rev. Bill Carmody with the Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs said repealing the law would “promote a policy that tells our young people that we no longer believe adultery is inappropriate or wrong.” And Republican Sen. Kevin Lundberg argued that moral standards continue to be important.
The bill will become law 90 days after the Colorado Legislature adjourns in May.
