Colorado for Family Values was a

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, United States.Amy Gluckman, Betsy Reed, ''Homo economics: capitalism, community, and lesbian and gay life'', Routledge, 199

/ref> It existed from 1990 to 2002.

Overview

It was co-founded by Tony Marco, Kevin Tebedo and David A. Noebel, David Noebel in the early 1990s.Didi Herma, ''The Antigay Agenda: Orthodox Vision and the Christian Right'', University of Chicago Press, 1998, p. 22

/ref> Will Perkins, a former car dealer from

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

, was the chairman of the board. Originally, it was called the Colorado Coalition for Family Values, but they dropped the word 'coalition' after a

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

presenter said it sounded

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

.Randall Balmer, Lauren F. Winner, ''Protestantism in America'', Columbia University Press, 2005, p. 16

/ref> Some have argued, because of the proximity of timing for the moving of Focus on the Family to Colorado Springs, that

James Dobson James Clayton Dobson Jr. (born April 21, 1936) is an American evangelicalism, evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family (FotF), which he led from 1977 until 2010. In the 1980s, he was ranked as one of the m ...

's move to

in 1991 led to its establishment. However, it was truly coincidental timing as Focus on the Family had nothing to do with the founding of Colorado for Family Values. Dobson's

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is an American Christian fundamentalism, Evangelical Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of Evangel ...

is independent from Colorado for Family Values. It has also been linked to

Traditional Values Traditionalist conservatism, often known as classical conservatism, is a political and social philosophy that emphasizes the importance of transcendent moral principles, manifested through certain posited natural laws to which it is claimed ...

, Summit Ministries,

Concerned Women for America Concerned Women for America (CWA) is a socially conservative, evangelical Christian non-profit women's legislative action committee in the United States. Headquartered in Washington D.C., the CWA is involved in social and political movements ...

, and the

Eagle Forum Eagle Forum is a conservative advocacy group in the United States founded by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972. Focused on social issues, it is socially conservative and describes itself as pro-family. Critics have described it as anti-feminist, an ...

Bill McCartney William Paul McCartney (August 22, 1940 – January 10, 2025) was an American college football coach who was the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes for 13 seasons ( 1982–1994). He compiled a record, and won three consecutive Big Eight Co ...

, the founder of

Promise Keepers Promise Keepers is an Evangelical Christian parachurch organization for men. It opposes same-sex marriage, and champions chastity and marital fidelity and the man as being head of the household. Promise Keepers originated in the United Sta ...

, is a supporter. Colorado for Family Values was created specifically for the purpose of countering an objective of the Colorado Human Relations Commission, to introduce legislation that would effectively add the behavior of homosexuality to the list of protected class status, thus creating the legal process of strict scrutiny for claims of discrimination made by homosexual individuals. It drafted and promoted Amendment 2 in 1992, which led to the United States Supreme Court case ''

Romer v. Evans ''Romer v. Evans'', 517 U.S. 620 (1996), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with sexual orientation and state laws.. It was the first Supreme Court case to address gay rights since '' Bowers v. Hardwick'' (1986),. when the ...

''.

Dissolution

Colorado for Family Values was dissolved in 2002 according to the records of the

Colorado Secretary of State The secretary of state of Colorado is the secretary of state of the state of Colorado in the United States. The office is one of five elected constitutional offices in the state. The current secretary of state is Democrat Jena Griswold. Str ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Political organizations based in the United States Organizations based in Colorado Springs, Colorado LGBTQ in Colorado