Sure, the state House of Representatives is about to elect its first openly gay speaker, but Democrats in the state Senate are just as proud of making history when the session opens next month.

Among the firsts:

The first openly gay Senate president pro tem, who also happens to be the first Latino in one of the top three leadership positions.

The first Democratic woman to serve as the Senate majority leader.

Eight women chairing 10 committees, the most ever.

Four Latino senators, the most ever.

Three Latino committee chairs, the most ever.

Three gay senators, the most ever.

Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, reeled off the milestones. She's one of them, becoming the first woman in the Senate Democratic caucus to hold the powerful majority leader post.

"We have a diverse caucus that closely approximates what the demographics of the state of Colorado actually look like," she said.

Much of the attention since the election, when Democrats won back the state House, has been on Rep. Mark Ferrandino. The gay Denver Democrat will formally become the new speaker when the legislature's 120-day session opens Jan. 9.

Ferrandino acknowledged getting more than his 15 minutes of fame so far but said the real story is the diversity in the legislature courtesy of the Democrats.

"I think it's a testament to a lot of groups, including people from the African-American community, the Latino community, the (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community identifying good people to run and advocating for candidates," he said.

Ferrandino added the Senate has plenty of firsts to be proud of.

Lucia Guzman, a Denver Democrat, accounts for several of the firsts. The gay Latina, who also is an ordained minister, will be the new Senate president pro team and chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Guzman said when her caucus last month nominated her for the pro-tem slot she got a call from a member of one of her first churches. He said his gay daughter was so proud.

"It's pretty awesome," she said, "but I always want to make sure that I represent all Coloradans."

Carroll agreed.

"When people have their problems, they don't care how many women or how many Latinos are there, but it's ... important to note that our caucus is keeping pace with what the community looks like," she said. "If the GOP is trying to figure out what happened in the last election, it would serve them well to look at their own numbers."

The 20-member Senate Democratic caucus includes 12 women and four Latinos, while the 15-member Senate GOP caucus is all white, and 13 of them are men.

"We judge people by the content of their character. Period," said Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray. "You may want to ask Morgan Carroll who pasty-white John Morse beat."

Morse, the incoming Senate president, defeated Sen. Ed Jones, R-Colorado Springs, in 2006. Morse is white, Jones is black.

There are no blacks in the Senate, but Capitol observers say it's only a matter of time. The House next year will have five blacks, the most ever in that body, and representatives have gravitated to the Senate when a seat opens up. All five blacks are Democrats.

But Carroll admitted she is "baffled" at how long progress has taken for women, even though they have outnumbered men in the Senate Democratic caucus for several years.

Former Sen. Norma Anderson, a Lakewood Republican, in 2003 became the first woman to serve as the powerful Senate majority leader. A decade later, Carroll will become only the second woman to serve in that post.

"There are a lot of exciting firsts," Carroll said, "but frankly we have a long way to go."

Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels