It's likely Coloradans will vote in November on whether gay couples should enjoy the legal rights and benefits afforded married couples.

On Wednesday, the Senate gave initial approval to a measure that would put the question on the ballot.

The Senate is expected to give formal approval to House Bill 1344 today and return it to the House, where passage also is expected.

The referred ballot measure, as it is called, does not require Gov. Bill Owens' signature.

Wednesday, several Republicans vehemently denounced the measure, calling it a surreptitious attempt to sanction gay marriage.

"This is a same-sex marriage bill. All the elements that go in this bill create all the obligations of marriage and the responsibilities of marriage," said Sen. Jim Dyer, R-Centennial. "We ought to just say so. To use a trite phrase, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's a duck."

The bill's sponsor, Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, disputed assertions that the measure sanctions gay marriage, contending the bill is about simple "equality and fairness."

HB 1344, co-sponsored by Rep. Tom Plant, D-Nederland, would allow domestic partnerships to be registered in the state and would extend certain benefits, protections and responsibilities to same-sex couples. That would include the right to inherit property from a partner, family leave benefits, medical decision- making and others.

"We're creating a unique and special status for same-sex couples," Fitz-Gerald said. "We won't be doing it here . . . we will be doing it at the ballot box.

"Under current laws, we state clearly that marriage is between a man and a woman. Domestic partners will have no portability. This will be a Colorado law only," she added.

Fitz-Gerald amended the bill to mirror a federal law that prohibits same-sex couples from filing joint income tax returns.

Additionally, churches and adoption agencies are not required to recognize the domestic partnership statue if it becomes law.

The gay-rights measure could join three others proposed for the November ballot, setting the stage for an emotionally charged election- year debate over how state law should treat same-sex couples.

The battle in the Senate offered a glimpse of the fight yet to come.

"It could not be clearer that we're trying to do everything in our power to create a same-sex marriage statute," said Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield. "The language in the bill calls for the state to extend benefits and civil protections that are granted to 'spouses.' "

Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, argued that marriage is a deeply rooted institution that the domestic- partnership measure in no way attempts to undermine.

"Don't kid yourself into thinking that a 12-year-old girl goes around saying that 'Someday, I want to grow up and be a domestic partner,' " she said. "Don't kid yourself that this measure is anywhere near marriage."

HB 1344 was among several hotly debated measures that won the Senate's approval Wednesday.

A bill that would allow teens who commit murder to become eligible for parole after serving 40 years in prison is on its way to Owens' desk.

The governor has said he will sign it now that it no longer contains a provision that would have allowed 45 juveniles already serving life sentences to qualify for parole after 40 years. "It's a modest step, and I think justice demands it," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver.

Seven Republicans joined 18 Democrats in supporting HB 1315, co-sponsored by Rep. Lynn Hefley, R-Colorado Springs.

Some Republicans condemned the bill, however, saying it's unjust to murder victims."I don't think anyone who commits murder should get another chance," said Dyer.

But Paul Rosenthal, executive director of Pendulum Juvenile Justice, a group that advocates juvenile sentencing reforms, said the bill was positive. "This is a good first step in the right direction," he said. "The legislature realized that children tried as adults should not be sentenced as adults."

He said his organization hopes the legislature some day will revisit this issue so that it may include the 45 Colorado inmates who were sentenced to life in prison as teens.

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