Subject: NGLTF on Calif. AG Colorado Brief
From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 19:43:09 -0400

NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE
PRESS STATEMENT

Contact: Robert Bray, 415-552-6448; [email-masked]
              Robin Kane, 202-332-6483, ext. 3311;
                     [email-masked]

 STATEMENT FROM NGLTF ON CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL'S SUPPORT OF COLORADO
ANTI-GAY AMENDMENT IN U.S. SUPREME COURT

San Francisco, CA -- May 24, 1995 -- California Attorney General Dan Lungren
has signed onto a brief along with six other attorneys general asking the
U.S. Supreme Court to uphold Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2.  The Supreme
Court has granted review of the amendment, which was ruled unconstitutional
by the state supreme court, and is scheduled to hear the case later this
fall.

 Lungren signed onto the brief with attorneys general from Alabama, Idaho,
Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota and Virginia.  Amendment 2, passed by
54 percent of the state's voters in 1992, prohibits and overturns local laws
that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

 The Associated Press has reported that Lungren's actions were not prompted
by "opposition to gay rights, but by support of states' rights."  The
attorneys general brief argues that the Colorado ruling would extend the same
rights to "every and any special interest group" and "cast a long shadow of
uncertainty over the traditional right of democratic self-government." The
brief argues that the Constitution provides protections only to racial
minorities and a few other groups.

 Following is a statement by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF),
attributable to Robert Bray, NGLTF field organizer.  Bray and other NGLTF
staff recently participated in a strategy meeting in Portland, Oregon, with
grassroots activists from Colorado and Oregon, to begin organizing in
anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling.
------
 "Amendment 2 is a travesty of civil rights and the attorney general's
support of the measure is unconscionable.  All gay, lesbian and bisexual
citizens should have the right to participate openly and freely in the
democratic process of this country.  Amendment 2 denies that open
participation by canceling any redress for discrimination for gay people.

 "This case before the Supreme Court will be a test case for the ability of
citizens to participate in our democracy free of discrimination and
prejudice.  It has broad implications for the civil rights of all citizens.
Should Amendment 2 be upheld, it will foster an open season of discrimination
and harassment of gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans, and place all civil
rights in jeopardy.

 "It is disingenuous for the California attorney general to imply that by
granting gay people protection from discrimination, it opens the door for any
"special interest group" to seek rights.  First, gay, lesbian and bisexual
people endure very real discrimination in the workplace, in public
accommodations and in housing.  Second, guaranteeing protections against
discrimination for gay people does not water down civil rights for others.
 Lungren is playing the politics of scarcity.  He implies that by expanding
protections to some, it disprivileges others.  There is no scarcity of civil
rights in America, only a scarcity of political leaders who will stand up for
the rights of all citizens.

 "Furthermore, the will of the majority cannot determine which minority will
live freely or not.  The Constitution asserts that all citizens are equal and
are guaranteed equal access to the democratic process.  We must keep the
freedom of the individual safe from the prejudices of society.  Freedom from
discrimination should not be held hostage to ballot box bigotry."

--end--

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is a leading national membership
organization that has supported grassroots organizing since 1973.