Subject: Remember Bowers v. Hardwick
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 14:48:36 -0400

AMERICANS FOR GAY RIGHTS

For Immediate Release               Contact: Michael Petrelis         
May 20, 1996                               PH. (415) 621-6267

Supreme Court Invalidates Anti-Gay

Amendment 2 Ballot Initiative

San Francisco, CA -- The following statement was issued today by the
political advocacy organization Americans for Gay Rights, in response to the
Supreme Court decision overturning Amendment 2.

"While we applaud the Supreme Court decision today that struck down
Colorado's anti-gay ballot initiative known as Amendment 2, we can't forget
that the court on June 30, 1986, upheld Georgia's sodomy statute in a
decision known as Bowers vs. Hardwick. Because of that sodomy ruling, gays
are considered criminals in many states and the sodomy statutes are used to
deny gays life-saving devices and information about how to engage in safe sex
and avoid contracting AIDS," stated Michael Petrelis, a spokesperson for
Americans for Gay Rights.

"We believe now is the time to challenge state sodomy statutes before the
Supreme Court. Only by ruling sodomy laws unconstitutional will gays shed our
second class status as Americans. Invalidating sodomy statutes will
additionally hasten our quest to marry our same-sex partners."

"We must also remember the gay activists who organized the boycott of the
state of Colorado after voters passed Amendment 2. It was activists like
Terry Schleder who kept the Amendment 2 issue on the gay community's agenda
and forced the Supreme Court to rule on this anti-gay ballot initiative."

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