A firm voice against gay marriage
For Colo. lawmaker, it's an article of faith
FORT MORGAN, Colo. -- When they served together in the Colorado Senate, Republican Marilyn Musgrave and Democratic leader Mike Feeley butted heads on every issue that came before them.
But when Feeley removed his jacket on the Senate floor one morning, it wasn't so they could duke it out. Musgrave had noticed a loose hem on the jacket, so she pulled out a sewing kit and mended it at her Senate desk.
"Marilyn is the kind who can fight for the right to carry concealed weapon to schools and parks with one hand and give you homemade cookies with the other," Feeley said.
Lately, Musgrave, now a freshman in the US House of Representatives, has had her hands busy pushing her Federal Marriage Amendment to ban gay marriage. Musgrave, who declined to be interviewed, has said the amendment protects a traditional way of life.
Musgrave married her college sweetheart, Steven Musgrave, whom she met at Bible camp, and the couple raised their four children on the family's hay farm in Fort Morgan, a farming community of 9,000 on the eastern plains of Colorado. Here she taught school, decorated the church for holidays, and began her political career on the local school board.
"To Marilyn, family is everything," said the Rev. Ben Baughman of The Sanctuary, the First Assembly of God church that the Musgrave family has attended in Fort Morgan for a dozen years. "She truly believes that her work in politics is to protect a way of life for future generations."
"The Assemblies of God believes strongly that God has declared great displeasure and opposition toward homosexual conduct," according to a church position statement on the topic.
The Fort Morgan church, which draws about 300 people to Sunday services, does not stray from that belief." Do I personally consider gay marriage to be correct? No," Baughman said. "And yes, this is a topic I feel comfortable talking to my congregation about on a Sunday morning."
Musgrave also feels comfortable taking religious-based beliefs to politics.
"Many people think Christians should be quiet in the public square; they think that Christians should not have a voice in the public square," said Musgrave during a Sept. 7, 2003, address to the congregation of Jerry Falwell's church in Lynchburg, Va. "But I don't agree with that. I think it is very important that we have our voice heard in that square."
Critics say Musgrave's approach blurs the separation between church and state. "She is the very definition of a religious conservative," Feeley said.
Adam Bowen of the Lambda Community Center in Fort Collins, which focuses on gay and lesbian issues, said she practices a sort of "religious persecution" by singling out a particular segment of the population.
Musgrave's career in politics began in 1990, when she was elected to the Fort Morgan School Board. She ran to change the focus of the district's sex-education curriculum to abstinence only.
"It's fair to say that she was single-minded," said Rob Carruth, who served on the Fort Morgan School Board for 20 years, including the two years Musgrave was on the board.
In the end, passages of textbooks were blacked out, and parents could choose to remove their children from the sex-ed part of health class.
"In the many years since that policy has been in place, you could count the number of parents who opted their kids out on your fingers and toes," Carruth said. "It really was a fringe issue."
On the board for two years, she decided to campaign for the Colorado House. Musgrave was elected and served four years as a state representative. In 1998, Musgrave was elected to the state Senate.
At the state level, Feeley said her interests were limited to "God, guns, and gays."
"She's always focused on what people are doing in their bedrooms, instead of serving the agricultural interests of her district," he said.
Musgrave first began pushing for a ban on gay marriage nearly a decade ago. Governor Roy Romer, a Democrat, rejected her efforts twice. Then moderate Republicans blocked her bill when Republican Bill Owens replaced Romer. In 2000, she and conservative House colleagues got the bill to the desk of Owens, who signed it.
Along the way, she has voted against abortion rights and adoption by same-sex parents. She has also sought to pass a concealed-handgun law that would have allowed guns in public places, including schools. The measure failed in the wake of the 1999 shooting deaths at Columbine High School.
Other legislators who served with Musgrave say her views reflect those of her constituency.
"Marilyn is a country gal with a good common-sense perspective," said Ken Choubler, a Republican senator who served with Musgrave in the Colorado House and Senate. "She believes in God and family just like the rest of Colorado. You wouldn't believe the respect and admiration she has among her constituency."
The bulk of Musgrave's district runs along the farm country of Colorado's eastern plains.
Choubler, who agreed with Musgrave on "darn near every issue" during her two terms in the state Legislature, said he "couldn't be prouder" of the impact Musgrave is having in Washington.
"She's very tough, and then at the same time she is very civil, very genteel, and respectful of differing opinions," he said.
Musgrave's critics and fans alike agree about her politeness.
"She was wrong on everything, but incredibly nice about it," Feeley said.
Those who knew her back home aren't surprised by the firm stance she has taken on the national level.
"You always know where you stand with Marilyn," Feeley said. "You absolutely are not going to change her mind." 