Subject: *QL*: LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 16:36:30 -0400

NEWS RELEASE---NEWS RELEASE---NEWS RELEASE---NEWS RELEASE

LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE		
Tuesday, August 6, 1996

Contact:	
Patricia Logue, (312) 759-8110
Peg Byron, (212) 995-9475

Lambda to Tell Michigan Court of Appeals that 
Attack on Civil Rights Law Misleads Voters in Lansing

 'Opponents of this law seem to think they can't win unless they can fool
Lansing voters'

(CHICAGO, August 6, 1996)   Opponents of new amendments to the civil rights
ordinance in Lansing, Michigan, want to fool voters and illegally obtain a
voter referendum on the law, an attorney for Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund said Tuesday in preparing for oral argument in the case.

Patricia M. Logue, managing attorney for Lambda's Midwest Regional Office,
will ask the Michigan Court of Appeals on Wednesday to uphold a lower court's
invalidation of referendum petitions.  The petitions failed to disclose the
text of Lansing's ordinance, as required by law.

Logue noted that when opponents of the ordinance circulated petitions for a
voter referendum on the new law, they included misleading flyers making false
claims that, for example, the law gives civil rights to child molesters or
restricts what ministers can preach.

"Opponents of this civil rights law seem to think they can't win unless they
can fool Lansing voters about what the law means," Logue said.  "We are not
afraid of a fair fight, and Lansing deserves a fair vote on a civil rights
law that merely ensures discrimination protections for its residents," she
said.

Passed by the Lansing City Council in March, the ordinance extends the city's
protections against discrimination based on categories including race, sex,
age, and disability into the areas of employment, public accommodations, and
public services.  The original law covered only housing discrimination. The
amended law also forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation, familial
status, and other characteristics.

The Ingham County Circuit Court ruled on May 20, 1996, that opponents of the
law must use  new petitions that fully disclose what the ordinance actually
does, in order to get their referendum on the November ballot.  The City
Clerk, which originally accepted the petitions, appealed.

Lambda, the nation's oldest and largest gay legal organization, and
co-counsel
Linda K. Henderson represent the Lansing Equal Rights Task Force in the
appeal.

With a regional office in Chicago, Lambda is the only national lesbian and
gay organization with an office in the Midwest.  Lambda has its national
headquarters in New York and a Western Regional Office in Los Angeles, with
plans to open a Southern Regional Office in Atlanta in 1997.  

Oral arguments in Lansing Equal Rights Task Force, et al. v. Lansing City
Clerk are scheduled for 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, August 7, 1996, at the
Michigan Court of Appeals, 109 West Michigan Avenue, Lansing, MI.
	-30-

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