Subject: CLINTON ADMINISTRATION REFUSES TO WEIGH IN ON COLORADO AMENDMENT 2
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 13:24:28 -0400

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PRESS RELEASE            PRESS RELEASE            PRESS RELEASE

               THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FUND                    

The Nation's Largest Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Political Group   
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To contact the HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FUND, please call us at     
(202)628-4160, fax us at (202) 347-5323 or write to us at PO Box 
1396  Washington, DC  20013.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1995

    CLINTON ADMINISTRATION REFUSES TO WEIGH IN WITH SUPREME COURT
                 AGAINST COLORADO'S ANTI-GAY AMENDMENT TWO

     WASHINGTON -- The Clinton Administration has refused to ask
the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down Colorado's anti-gay
Amendment 2 as the high court prepares to decide on the
constitutionality of the discriminatory measure.  The Human
Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF) and the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights, the nation's leading civil rights coalition, had
requested that the Administration file a friend-of-the-court
brief calling on the Supreme Court to overturn Amendment 2.

     "This was a bad legal and political decision," said HRCF
Executive Director Elizabeth Birch.  "Staying silent in this case
gives aid and comfort to extremists who wouldn't support the
President under any circumstances, and gravely disappoints fair-
minded Americans.  Most people support equal rights for lesbian
and gay people and oppose the kind of discrimination embodied in
Amendment 2."

     Amendment 2 is the only statewide anti-gay measure passed by
voters.  Last year, voters in Idaho and Oregon defeated anti-gay
initiatives in the midst of the Republican sweep.  The 1992
Colorado measure would overturn local laws prohibiting
discrimination and prevent state and local governments from
passing similar laws in the future.  Colorado's Supreme Court
last year struck down Amendment 2 as unconstitutional, declaring
that the measure denied supporters of equal rights for lesbian
and gay people the basic right to participate in the democratic
process.

     "The issue before the court is one of fundamental fairness,
and  whether any group of Americans should be denied access to
the democratic process," Birch said.  "The federal government has
a clear interest in standing up for these fundamental principles.
We are extremely disappointed in this decision, but in the end
the Supreme Court will decide on the merits of the case."

     HRCF was the largest single financial contributor to the
legal challenge against Amendment 2.  The nation's largest
lesbian and gay political organization, HRCF works to end
discrimination, secure equal rights, and protect the health and
safety of all Americans. 

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