Another Colo. lawmaker faces a complaint
Thomas Cavaness stood in the back of a darkened room at a political campaign event one night in early 2012 when he felt someone reach over and grab his inner thigh near his crotch.
The hand belonged to Paul Rosenthal, then a state House candidate who is now in his third term as a Colorado lawmaker, according to a formal complaint Cavaness filed this week. Rosenthal, a Denver Democrat, is the second state lawmaker in a week to face accusations of sexual harassment.
The same evening in 2012, Cavaness said, Rosenthal touched the small of his back, letting his hand slip to his buttocks, and later tried to kiss him as he left, according to the confidential document obtained by The Denver Post.
Cavaness, now 29, dodged the kiss. But he said inappropriate behavior from Rosenthal continued a handful of times in the ensuing months.
“I just kind of shifted away. It was really uncomfortable, but I didn’t know what to do at that point,” he told The Post in one of a series of interviews. “It was not a situation I had been in at that point.”
Rosenthal, 49, told The Post that he is “shocked” by the allegations and denied touching Cavaness inappropriately. He pointed to Facebook messages and a recent conversation earlier this month to suggest the two were friendly.
“He’s lying,” Rosenthal said, calling the allegations “baseless and false,” referring other questions to his attorney.
Both Rosenthal and Cavaness are openly gay.
The complaint against Rosenthal follows accusations made by Rep. Faith Winter about how state Rep. Steve Lebsock tried to get her to go home and have sex with him. Two other women later told The Post that Lebsock, a Democrat, made unwanted sexual advances toward them, too.
Cavaness’ complaint will start
an investigation, led by House Speaker Crisanta Duran, who is facing tough questions about how she handled the allegations against Lebsock.
“I believe the actions of Paul Rosenthal are inappropriate and need to be investigated,” Cavaness wrote in the complaint, sent Tuesday.
Duran confirmed to Cavaness in an email that she received the complaint and would refer it to Legislative Legal Services, per the General Assembly’s workplace-harassment policy.
When the allegations against Lebsock surfaced, Duran immediately called for his resignation, as did Rosenthal. But in a statement Wednesday about the accusations against Rosenthal, she declined to comment.
“I am withholding comment on these specific circumstances due to my role in investigating any formal complaints,” she said in the statement. Duran temporarily removed Rosenthal as vice-chairman of the Local Government Committee. Lebsock was temporarily removed as chairman of the same committee.
It remains unclear whether the legislative policy will apply to Rosenthal, given that he was not a member at the time of the alleged encounter. Rosenthal argued the complaint is “inappropriate” because he was not yet elected.
Inspired by #MeToo
In the document and interviews, Cavaness, a former Texas Army National Guard member and field organizer for a political campaign, said he felt it was important to come forward as part of the #MeToo movement. He said he feels guilty that he didn’t come forward sooner.
“I also want it to be known that there are men who are victims, and this is a systemic problem within the gay community in my opinion,” Cavaness told The Post. “It’s not universal, of course, but it’s certainly more pervasive than it should be.”
Cavaness wrote a #MeToo post Oct. 15 on Facebook but did not share the details about his encounters with Rosenthal. Until recently, he told only a few people about the incident, which he believes occurred at a fundraiser in early February 2012 for Brian Carroll, a state House candidate, hosted by LGBT and community allies.
Cavaness was a co-host of the fundraiser, and Carroll confirmed Rosenthal attended the event. In an interview, Carroll said he doesn’t remember seeing anything inappropriate.
The Post confirmed with two close associates of Cavaness’ that he told them years ago about being harassed by a Colorado lawmaker and identified Rosenthal in one of those conversations.
Penny Briggs, the wife of Cavaness’ former youth minister, considers herself a surrogate mother to him. Cavaness told her “that a representative had touched him inappropriately, and he felt very shamed by it. It made him very angry, and he didn’t know what to do about it,” she said.
Briggs said she is not surprised he is now coming forward. “One thing I know about Thomas is that he’s very much for justice, and right and wrong, and he doesn’t like people getting away with doing things that are wrong,” she said in an interview.
A second friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear of retribution, said Cavaness told him Rosenthal “made advances at him.”
“He told me that he felt (Rosenthal) was a little handsy,” the friend said in an interview. “He felt like he had been touched inappropriately.”
The friend also is engaged in Colorado politics and knows Rosenthal. He said Rosenthal “does get a little handsy,” or overly friendly, when he drinks alcohol.
In an interview, Rosenthal said that “it’s fairly common” with gay men to give hugs rather than shake hands when greeting people.
“It’s possible I gave him a hug, but I can’t think of anything sexual because I’m very careful about that sort of thing — to not come across that way to someone particularly who I just met,” said Rosenthal, a teacher on contract at a youth corrections facility.
He later said “it’s probable” he tried to kiss Cavaness on the cheek “if we felt close at that moment,” but he reiterated that he did not act inappropriately.
The two men met again earlier this month at a party hosted by a mutual friend, and Rosenthal did not act inappropriately, Cavaness said. In person and online, Rosenthal said their conversations were respectful and friendly.
“If it was a flirt, it was a good-natured flirt,” Rosenthal said.
In Facebook messages between the two men that go back to 2012, Rosenthal said he wanted to see Cavaness “in your uniform some day! lol” and talked about getting to “hang out in the military with boyz all day.” In another message, Rosenthal talked about “hot guys” at a hot dog stand he visited, according to documents reviewed by The Post. The Facebook messages are referenced in the formal complaint.
The timing of the first messages in February 2012 is why Cavaness believes the unwanted sexual advances from Rosenthal came at Carroll’s fundraiser. But in interviews before the complaint was filed, he also said the encounter could have taken place at an event for U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette a month earlier.
Rosenthal and his attorney point to the same Facebook messages — which continued sporadically through this year when Cavaness returned to Colorado — to suggest there is nothing inappropriate in their relationship.
Cavaness said he didn’t feel comfortable confronting Rosenthal in person or online. “Just because I didn’t say in a text message that this was disgusting or inappropriate doesn’t mean that it wasn’t disgusting and inappropriate,” he said in response.
Coming forward
One reason Cavaness said he came forward now with the complaint is how he saw others he knows confront people in power as part of the #MeToo campaign, which made him feel “even more responsibility about coming forward,” he said.
“I don’t want anyone else to be victimized,” he said. And gay men, he said, “should feel more secure and confident in themselves and not feel that it’s OK for it to happen. I felt that way for a long time.”
Cavaness said he once felt it was normal for older gay men to behave this way, which is one reason he didn’t confront Rosenthal at the time, he said.
Cavaness grew up in a conservative family, and his parents told him that gay men were predators. And he allowed other gay men to treat him similarly, not knowing it was inappropriate until he was older and had better relationships.
“It started with Paul,” Cavaness said. “The fact that he made me think that that (behavior) was OK.”