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Tapia Lauded for Humanistic Perspective

Monday, May 17 2010

The Pueblo Chieftain
By: Patrick Malone
May 16th, 2010

DENVER — He delivered what one lawmaker called "the speech heard 'round the world," but Sen. Abel Tapia's time in the Legislature involved much more than that.

During an April 2005 debate over a bill addressing discrimination over sexual-orientation, Tapia brought a personal and emotionally charged perspective to the discourse.

"My son is not an abomination," Tapia, D-Pueblo, scolded a lawmaker on the other side of the debate, while referring to his own homosexual son. "Until you have actually experienced it in your family . . . don't start talking about an abomination, because I don't believe that is true."

Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, who is openly gay, said Tapia's speech forever changed the tenor of talk about sexual-orientation issues under the dome.

"You came out as the father of a gay man and said you wished for your son what anyone would wish for their child," Steadman said. "It was the speech heard 'round the world. You have advanced the cause for everyone. (Tapia's oration) will always be part of me."

Tapia is term-limited and just finished his last week serving in the Legislature.

Sen. Michael Johnston, D-Denver, said before he was elected to the Legislature, there wasn't a single name among the lawmakers that was familiar to him, except Tapia's.

"He's the person I most wanted to meet," Johnston said.

Tapia's 12 years in the Legislature were defined by the positions of power and respect he held. He spent two terms on the Joint Budget Committee, and briefly left that role to serve as Senate president pro tem.

But most of all, Tapia's colleagues will remember him as a congenial and kind man, they said.

Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, clarified what he meant when he once called Tapia "a marshmallow" on the Senate floor. Mitchell said he meant to characterize Tapia as a gentle and caring soul, and that he never intended to disparage him.

"I was hoping to clear that up on the record so I wouldn't have to live with it the rest of my life," Tapia laughed.

A parade of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle — some tearfully — spoke of Tapia's virtue and praised his willingness to do the right thing for his constituents in Pueblo as well as citizens of the entire state.

Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, said Tapia brought to the Legislature "a very enduring, humanistic trait that we all should aspire to."