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"Last week, Out Boulder County joined the growing list of community organizations like Emergency Family Assistance Association (EFAA) and Standing Up for Racial Justice in endorsing the Bedrooms Are For People ballot measure. This is Out Boulder County’s first-ever ballot measure endorsement and I’m very proud of what the endorsement means for our LGBTQ+ communities.
Boulder was the first town in Colorado to permit same-sex marriage and our state’s first openly gay governor hails from our town. Despite this, for most of the “no more than 3 unrelated people” occupancy law’s 50-plus-year existence, same-sex marriages were illegal and maintaining a “neighborhood’s character” meant keeping its cisgender, heterosexual composition. Even today, Boulder’s outdated home occupancy limits mean that it is illegal for four unmarried LGBTQ+ people to safely share a four-bedroom home together.
Currently, many queer tenants living in Boulder face fear of eviction, and some have no legal standing to negotiate with their landlords since they are not on the lease. The Out Boulder County 2021 COVID Impacts Study found that over a third of the LGBTQ+ people of color respondents had lost their housing during the pandemic and another 52% of respondents of color were afraid that they’d lose their housing this year.
For our neighbors who are already sharing their homes with their chosen communities, this law gives them the peace of mind to live openly in their neighborhoods and in their everyday lives being out, queer, and proud.
Having a rainbow flag isn’t enough—please join Out Boulder County in taking a real stand for Boulder’s LGBTQ+ communities and vote YES on Bedrooms Are For People this November."
— Neesha R. Schnepf
A queer of color volunteering with both Out Boulder County and Bedrooms Are For People
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