NEWS ON MISSOURI ANTI-GAY INITIATIVE AND PENDING LAWSUIT On August 11, 1993, a proposed initiative petition was filed with the Missouri Secretary of State, to amend the constitution of the State of Missouri by adding a new Article as follows: "Neither the state of Missouri, through any of its branches, departments or agencies, nor any of its political subdivisions, including counties, municipalities and school districts, shall enact, adopt or enforce any statute, order, regulation, rule, ordinance, resolution or policy whereby homosexual, lesbian or bi-sexual activity, conduct or orientation shall entitle any person or class of persons to have or demand any minority status, protected status, quota preference, affirmative action or claim of discrimination. This section shall be in all respects self-executing. This section is severable, and should any portion hereof be found unconstitutional, the remainder shall in all respects remain in force." The Attorney General approved the petition as to form, and the Secretary of State then drafted the following petition and ballot title, which was approved by the Attorney General: "Shall the Constitution of Missouri be amended by adding a new Article which would prohibit the state of Missouri, through any of its branches, departments or agencies, and its political subdivisions, including counties, municipalities and school districts, from enacting, adopting or enforcing any statute, order, regulation, rule, ordinance, resolution or policy whereby homosexual, lesbian or bi-sexual activity, conduct or orientation shall entitle any person or class of persons to have or demand any minority status, protected status, quota preference, affirmative action or claim of discrimination?" A legal team in Missouri filed suit on September 10, 1993 on behalf of three Missouri non-profit organizations (Privacy Rights Education Project, Human Rights Project, and Missouri Task Force on Lesbian and Gay Concerns), as well as three individual plaintiffs, challenging the initiative petition and proposed constitutional amendment and petition and ballot title on two grounds under Missouri law: 1) Count I states that the initiative and amendment violate the provisions of Missouri's Constitution that require that an initiative petition and constitutional amendment contain only one subject and related matters. The initiative and amendment contains multiple subjects on its face (e.g. anti-discrimination protections, affirmative action, quota preferences, protected status, and minority status, among others) and, moreover, would amend various provisions of the Missouri Constitution (equal protection, redress of grievances, due process, home rule, provisions requiring the courts to be open to all people, and legislative and executive powers). By including all of these subjects in one initiative petition and constitutional amendment, voters who support some of the subjects of the petition and amendment but oppose other subjects would be required to vote for or against subjects they do or do not want in order to promote or defeat other subjects contained in the petition and amendment, thereby perpetrating a legal fraud. 2) Count II, in the alternative, states that the ballot and petition title drafted by the Secretary of State and approved by the Attorney General is not fair, and does not state the purpose and effect of the proposed amendment, as required by Missouri law. If the court does not throw out the initiative altogether, it asks the court to draft a fair ballot and petition title. Those fighting similar initiatives in other parts of the country who would like a copy of the petition filed in this case may e- mail me with a request for a copy, and I'll e-mail it to you. Arlene Zarembka, Esq. Attorney for PREP 225 So. Meramec, Suite 214 St. Louis, MO 63105 e-mail: 71031.1044.compuserve.com or stzhalp@umslvma ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corrections, new info, and requests for info: amend2-info@cs.colorado.edu Administrative comments : amend2-mod@cs.colorado.edu General Discussion : amend2-discuss@cs.colorado.edu Boulder/Denver area local meetings/events : amend2-local@cs.colorado.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to a list, send mail to Majordomo@cs.colorado.edu, with subscribe in the BODY of the message. For multiple lists, use multiple lines.