Weekend Colorado Daily November 12-14, 1993

Lead headline:
     Same-sex couples in family housing?

Survey appears ready to widen debate on campus
By Chris Wolf
Colorado Daily Staff Writer

     A survey distributed to residents of CU's Newton Court family housing
facility appears intended to widen the debate over eligibility of same-sex
couples to live alongside traditional families in student housing.

     Circulated anonymously last week by residents of the complex, the survey
comes as a committee established by Chancellor James Corbridge is considering
creating a policy to permit homosexuals to share student housing.  In the
absence of a university policy, a state law prohibiting same-sex marriages has
been a de facto deterrent to such arrangements.

     The survey, which according to one Newton Court resident was distributed
via individually locked mailboxes, asked three questions about residents'
attitudes toward CU family housing and homosexuals.

     The three questions are:

     o Do you think family housing at the University of Colorado provides a
valuable resource for families?

     o Are you satisfied with the current family housing policy regarding
housing qualifications?

     o Should family housing adjust its policy to provide housing for gay and
lesbian couples?

     The sympathies of the survey's writer are not made evident by either the
assumptions of the questions or any indicator of allegiance on the survey.  But
according to a student involved in the search for a policy, there is opposition
to same-sex cohabitation on many fronts.

     "There is some objection based on homophobia, but some people are saying,
'Well, I have five children, and I can't get into family housing and now you're
allowing single people in,'" said Michael J. Mills.

     A graduate student in atmospheric science, Mills is a member of the
Chancellor's Human Resources Task Force, which is charged with suggesting a
policy that would alleviate any existing discrimination.

     Additionally, Mills said he has perceived officials of the Housing
Department to be less than sincere when he has met with them regarding this
subject.  "They have seemed cooperative, but I don't know what's going on
behind the scenes.  It's my opinion that there are people who are opposed to
the task force recommendations of last spring."

     In April, the Chancellor's Task Force on Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues
recommended establishing a committee to determine whether university policies
"effectively discriminate" against homosexuals.  The human resources task force
on which Mills now sits is that committee.

     Although the one-page questionnaire distributed at Newton Court is titled
"Family Housing Policy Survey," and could be mistaken for an official
university initiative, Family Housing Manager Leo Lesh said it did not come
from his office.

     Lesh said he had received a phone call from a man claiming to be a
resident of Newton Court and asking for permission to circulate the
questionnaire.  Lesh said he told the man it was not his province to approve
private publishing and that the man should do what he wanted.

     The man probably persuaded Newton Court's student manager to allow him
access to the complex's locked individual mailboxes, Lesh said.

     Until a policy is announced, Lesh said his feeling is that it is
appropriate and important to encourage as much public debate as is desired.  "I
like it when the residents take an interest in the community," he said.  "I
think that's what the community is all about.

     "No one has come up to me yet and said, 'If this policy passes, I'm going
to throw a book through your window.'"  Likewise, Lesh said, "nobody has said,
'If this doesn't pass I'm going to do the same thing.'"

     Mills said the question of same-sex co-habitation is one of many aspects
of "effective discrimination" that results from CU's lack of specific
allowances for gays', lesbians' and bisexuals' benefits.

     "I thought it needed to be shown to the university that it does
discriminate against gays and lesbians by offering certain benefits only to
heterosexual couples,"  Mills said.  Regarding applications for family housing,
Mills said his task force has drafted "criteria" which same-sex couples must
meet to prove they are "demonstrably committed."

     By meeting three of the seven criteria -- which include joint bank
account, power of attorney, power of attorney, and co-signature on a debt --
gay or lesbian couples would still be required to meet a higher burden of proof
than do heterosexual couples.  A man and a woman, for example, must only sign
an affidavit of common-law marriage which Lesh routinely administers.

     Mills said the objection that "now you're allowing single people in" is
uninformed.  "My response to that is that these are not single people.  They
are people who are in committed relationships who are not allowed to be
married," he said.  Also, Mills said he would not expect a flood of gay and
lesbian couples to apply for admittance to family housing.

     The Chancellor's Human Resources Task Force chaired by CU Human Resources
Director Shari Robertson, is expected to issue its recommendation to Corbridge
by the end of this school year.