House lawmakers gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill allowing gay adoptions and another restricting the use of tanning salons by teens.

Both bills face final votes today. Each ignited scorching floor debate.

House Bill 1330, sponsored by Rep. Alice Madden, D-Boulder, would allow cohabitating couples, including gay couples, to adopt.

"This bill is about children," Madden said. "It would allow more Colorado children to have two parents." In turn, they would have more emotional and economic stability, she said.

Republicans warned that the bill ignored the wishes of Colorado voters, who last year defeated Referendum I, which would have legalized domestic partnerships. At the time, the state's voters approved Amendment 43, which added a section to the Colorado Constitution that defines marriage as only a union between one man and one woman.

"It's the sense of the people of Colorado that same-sex couples or that environment is not good for the children of Colorado," said Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs. He said the bill attempts to "undefine what our culture says is normative."

"These families exist, whether you like it or not," replied Madden. She said that more than half the nation's children are in nontraditional homes led by single parents, grandparents or others.

The bill passed on a voice vote, with Democrats defeating Republican efforts to put the issue before voters.

Meanwhile, the lawmakers also debated Senate Bill 23, which would require parental or doctor approval for minors to use a tanning salon.

"This is a bill that is Nanny State-ism at its worst," said Rep. Spencer Swalm, R-Centennial.

"I think responsible parents know that this is not healthy to have kids spending a lot of time in tanning booths," he added. He said teens need to begin looking out for themselves.

But the bill's sponsor, Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver, replied that legislators frequently impose laws for parents and youngsters who aren't so responsible, including ones that bar minors from getting tattoos and buying alcohol and cigarettes.

Dermatologists warned during committee hearings of a nationwide increase in skin cancer, she said. And a young woman testified that she became addicted to tanning salons at 16 and was battling melanoma skin cancer by her 18th birthday.

After the measure passed on a voice vote, it was challenged. The House voted 32-31 to overturn it, falling a vote shy of the 33 required for reversal.

gathrighta@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5486