From: [email-masked] (Darren Geimausaddle)
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 1994 10:03:04 -0500

ACLU * ACLU * ACLU * ACLU * ACLU * ACLU * ACLU * ACLU * ACLU
 NEWS RELEASE * NEWS RELEASE * NEWS RELEASE * NEWS RELEASE 

ACLU National Board Endorses Colorado Boycott;
Joins Push For Repeal of Discriminatory Amendment 2

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                          
January 27, 1993                            

      NEW YORK -- The 83-member national Board of the American Civil
Liberties Union has overwhelmingly endorsed the economic boycott of
Colorado to protest a measure that strips gay men, lesbians and bisexuals
of their civil rights.

      With passage of Amendment 2 on the November ballot, Colorado became
the first state to seek to make discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation expressly part of its constitution.

      "Prejudice must be repudiated in a free, democratic society," said
Nadine Strossen, ACLU President. "The American system of government is
built on the premise that the power of a majority must not eliminate
individual rights."

      In a related development, the ACLU's national Lesbian and Gay Rights
Project, the ACLU of Colorado, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
and the Colorado Legal Initiative Project (CLIP) have obtained an
injunction preventing the measure from taking effect. State Judge H.
Jeffrey Bayless ruled that a "reasonable probability" exists that
Amendment 2 will be found unconstitutional after trial.

      As court battles loom, the ACLU's endorsement of the boycott is a
way to focus attention on the repercussions of codifying intolerance. If
Amendment 2 were to be upheld, there would be no legal recourse for gay
men, lesbians or bisexuals attempting to combat discrimination based on
sexual orientation in employment, education, housing or any other context
in Colorado. No state law or policy could even recognize the existence of
a gay minority among Colorado citizens. Those advocating equal civil
rights for gay men, lesbians and bisexuals could only participate in
politics at the state-wide initiative level and would be cut out from all
more local avenues of redress.

      The ACLU's Board urged ACLU members, affiliates and all other
individuals or organizations to endorse the boycott and otherwise help
overturn Amendment 2.

      In taking this action, the national ACLU is joining the ACLU of
Southern California, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and several
major corporations, religious organizations and Hollywood celebrities in
announcing its public opposition to Amendment 2. Nine major cities -- Los
Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston,
Seattle and Austin -- have either restricted travel to the state or banned
the purchase of Colorado products and services.

      Amendment 2 and the fight against such measures also has prompted
the ACLU to further step up and coordinate efforts to enact federal civil
rights protection for gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals.

      "The threat to the civil liberties of one group places the rights of
all Americans in jeopardy," the ACLU Board said in its resolution.

--end--
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