Brian DelGrosso “bowed his head when voting ‘no'” last night on the civil unions bill making its way through the Colorado Legislature (The Spot). DelGrosso has a gay uncle, but the Loveland state representative didn’t split with his fellow Republican House Judiciary Committee members (ColoradoPols), who effectively killed the proposal. It was an emotional day for many advocates of civil unions, not least Democratic Representative Mark Ferrandino, the House sponsor of the measure, whose partner testified about the couple’s adoption efforts.

In all, more than seven hours of testimony were heard yesterday, including a plea from College Republicans state chair Troy Ard, an openly gay supporter of the bill (Pueblo Chieftain). Ferrandino spoke to a crowd of proponents gathered on the Capitol steps for a rally prior to the hearing (Colorado Independent with video), and opponents also came together for a public protest, scenes of which are captured in a video from the Denver Post (also embedded below). The Post also offers a nice slide show of images taken throughout the day.