UCLA, Harvard, not CUNY? I'm increasingly offended by all of our brain-
power being drained by these loonies. Ken
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
The Denver Post, October 18, 1993

Amend. 2 witnesses the titans of talk
By Michael Booth, Staff Writer

It's no mistake that the trial over Amendment 2 often comes across as a Battle
of the Academic All-Stars--or an Oxford debating society talk-a-thon.

The gay-rights plaintiffs seeking to overturn the amendment, as well as the
state attorneys defending it, have called in the nation's top experts in
biology, political science, constitutional law and psychoanalysis to make
their case.

And Denver District Judge Jeff Bayless has given them near-complete freedom to
ascend into the esoteric heights, from definitions of political power to the
organic chemistry of rodent brain cells.

The lawyers aren't trying to impress only Bayless, though he will decide this
case.

The case over Amendment 2, which prohibits passage or enforcement of laws
protecting gays from discrimination, likely will reach the U.S. Supreme Court
eventually.

And Amendment 2 hybrids are cropping up in dozens of other states, facing
legal challenges of their own.

Finally, with extensive media coverage of the trial, the attorneys and experts
hope to reach Joe and Jane Public with their competing messages about
homosexuality and gay rights.

"The parties are not so naive as to discount the public nature of this trial,
or to think it will only make a difference inside the four walls of this
court," said David Miller, staff attorney for the ACLU and a member of the gay
rights legal team.

"There is a public that needs to be educated," Miller said.

So much of the first week's trial transcripts read as if it were a college
course transcript, as gay-rights supporters presented their case that
homosexuals are a distinct minority deserving of protection from bias.

And this week, the state will present its own world-renowned experts to refute
that claim, saying Amendment 2 is the fairest way for Colorado to let citizens
make up their own minds about homosexuality.

The professorial lineup represents such academic powerhouses as Harvard,
Oxford, the University of Chicago, the University of California at Los Angeles,
Amherst, Duke and Yale.

Dean Hamer, for example, is an acclaimed genetic researcher with the National
Institutes of Health and author of one of the most-publicized studies of the
year.

Hamer reported in July that many gay men share a genetic variation, which might
prove a biological reason for their homosexuality.

The state, for its part, intends to call experts such as James Davison Hunter
of the University of Virginia, a sociologist and author of the groundbreaking
"Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America."

Hunter writes that arguments over homosexuality are a legitimate part of a
growing debate in America over moral values.

Ironically, the same state attorneys tried to block the parade of academics
before the trial, arguing that Bayless should decide only whether Amendment 2
violates the U.S. Constitution.

The debate over whether homosexuality is genetic, or whether gays are
politically powerless, should be irrelevant, said Chief Deputy Attorney General
Tim Tymkovich.

"Carrying out a political debate in the courtroom does a disservice both to the
political dialogue and to the role of the judicial process," Tymkovich said.

"The state has always said the court should not engage in this wide-ranging
inquiry."

The academic debate is "window dressing" to disguise the fact that the U.S.
Supreme Court never has recognized gays as a protected class of citizens, said
Robert Skolrood, whose National Legal Foundation in Virginina helped write
Amendment 2.

What is certain is that the trial lacks the human and political drama--not to
mention the large crowds--of January's hearing on an injunction against
Amendment 2.  In those emotion-charged proceedings, plaintiffs including a
Denver lesbian cop testified of harassment they had suffered for being gay and
the threat to their jobs if Amendment 2 took effect.

Tourism and business leaders were hanging on every word, fearing the spread of
the national boycott of Colorado that has long since died down.

"This case *looks* less exciting than the injunction," acknowledged Miller.

It's a "battle of the experts, if you will" said Mary Celeste, part of the
legal team opposing Amendment 2.