Echoing conservative talking points, News Radio 740 KVOR host Joseph Michelli on his May 16 show distorted the intent of two pieces of state legislation that Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter recently signed into law: one that allows second-parent adoptions and another that generally requires science-based standards in the state's sex education curricula.

Apparently referring to House Bill 1330, Michelli stated, “We now have laws in the state of Colorado that promote same-sex partners and ... adoption.” In fact, HB 1330 does not “promote” adoption by same-sex partners; the text of the legislation makes no reference at all to same-sex couples. As The Gazette of Colorado Springs reported, the measure “permit[s] adoption of children by grandparents, siblings, extended relatives, common law spouses and other adults living with the parent.” Michelli's assertion that HB 1330 promotes same-sex partners and adoption echoes a talking point of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, which characterized the measure as “a back-door effort to legalize adoption by gay couples.”

Michelli parroted another conservative talking point in saying that a second law -- concerning sex education in the state's public schools -- “makes it clear that you can't just do abstinence-only, even if you're a small school district.” As Colorado Media Matters has pointed out (here and here), although House Bill 1292 requires public schools to maintain human sexuality curriculum standards based on scientific research, it explicitly exempts schools that currently receive federal funds for abstinence-only education. Michelli further failed to mention the law mandates that schools “emphasize abstinence and teach that sexual abstinence is the only certain way and the most effective way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and infections.”

From the May 16 broadcast of News Radio 740 KVOR's The Joseph Michelli Show:

MICHELLI: We now have laws in the state of Colorado that promote same-sex partners and, and adoption, and also a law that recently makes it clear that you can't just do abstinence-only, even if you're a small school district that, that really believes that's the educational curriculum you should be teaching. The state legislature's fixed that 'cause they know better.