Subject: Supreme Court Finds Colorado's Anti-Gay Amendment 2 Unconstitutional
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 12:20:32 -0400

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NEWS from the
Human Rights Campaign

1101 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
email:  [email-masked]
WWW:    http://www.hrcusa.org
________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 20, 1996
                                
               SUPREME COURT FINDS COLORADO'S ANTI-GAY
                         AMENDMENT 2 UNCONSTITUTIONAL

              An Outstanding Moral Victory,' Says Largest National Gay
                                                 Organization

WASHINGTON --The U.S. Supreme Court acted in the true interest of
justice today by overturning Colorado's discriminatory Amendment
2, said Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights
Campaign, the largest national lesbian and gay political
organization.

      "This decision is an outstanding moral victory," Birch said
after the court ruled 6-3 that the measure violates the
constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law. "And
this triumph is especially important in light of the
congressional gay-bashing, which has reached an all-time high in
the last two weeks."

     Birch noted that this decision does not advance equal rights
for gay and lesbian Americans. "It merely ensures that Colorado
-- and every other state -- cannot pass laws to deny gay and
lesbian Americans equal access to the democratic process," she
said.

"But it also makes clear that this Supreme Court will not permit
any state to attempt to pass laws making its gay residents
second-class citizens."

     Amendment 2 is the only statewide anti-gay ballot measure
that has ever been passed by voters. In 1994, voters in Idaho and
Oregon defeated anti-gay initiatives in the midst of the
Republican sweep. And last year, voters in Maine rejected a
similar effort.

     Public opinion polls continue to show that while most
Americans support equal rights for gay people, the majority of
Americans do not understand that no federal law protects lesbian
and gay people from discrimination, Birch noted. Most people do
not know that it is perfectly legal to fire someone for being gay
in the 41 states that do not have civil rights protection based
on sexual orientation.

     Birch pointed out that the same religious political
organizations that were responsible for Amendment 2 and other
similar measures are continuing their drive to deny equal rights
to lesbian and gay Americans.

     "The religious political extremists have changed tactics,"
Birch said. "Instead of statewide anti-gay ballot initiatives
like Amendment 2, they are pressing for bills in state
legislatures and, most recently, in the U.S. Congress, that would 
outlaw same-sex marriage. What this new wave of hate demonstrates
is that gay and lesbian Americans still have a long way to go
toward winning equal rights."

     The members of Congress who are pushing legislation to
outlaw same-sex marriage "should look at today's Supreme Court
decision and think again about what they are doing," Birch said.
"The highest court of the land has said that no state can make
its gay and lesbian citizens  unequal to everyone else' or  a
stranger to its laws.' This is all we have ever asked for."

     Amendment 2, approved in 1992 by 53 percent of Colorado
voters, would have overturned local laws prohibiting
discrimination based on sexual orientation and prevented state
and local governments from passing similar laws in the future.
Colorado's Supreme Court struck down Amendment 2 in 1994 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.  HRC was the largest
single financial contributor to the legal challenge against
Amendment 2.

     The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian
and gay political organization, with members throughout the
country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign
support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay
Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in
the community.
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