DENVER — A new chapter for Colorado families began today at 12:01 am when hard-fought legislation for civil unions took effect, allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions for the first time.

Same-sex marriages performed in other states were immediately recognized civil unions under Colorado law, and Colorado same-sex couples were the first time allowed to fill out paperwork for civil unions licenses at county clerks’ offices, including Denver’s Webb building where Mayor Hancock officiated the state’s very first union between Fran and Anna Simon.

DENVER, Colo. -- The Democrat-controlled state Senate voted 21-14 today to approve a civil-unions bill.

Senate Bill 11 will allow gay and lesbian couples to form civil unions.

SB 11 now goes to the Democrat-controlled House, where it is expected to pass.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, has pushed for civil unions. If all goes as expected, the governor will sign the bill in March and the law will go into effect on May 31.

Colorado would be the ninth state to have civil unions or a similar law.

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s LGBT inaugural moment, however …

As happy as I was to hear President Barack Obama say in his second inaugural address: "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. For if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

A woman in a lesbian relationship has given birth to the first baby of the year in France.

The baby boy, named Sacha, was born on the morning of New Year’s Day between midnight and a minute past midnight at the Moulins Hospital Centre.

His birth mother Maude has been in a PACS civil union with her partner Delphine since 2010, according to France TV.

Sacha, measuring 48.5 cm long and weighing 2.92 kilograms, was conceived through artificial insemination.