From: RMVLUG_4@FLINT.MINES.COLORADO.EDU (FRANK BERNDT)
Subject: California anti-gay rights initiative
Followup-To: amend2-discuss@cs.colorado.edu
Originator: doherty@ucsu.Colorado.EDU
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 18:37:22 GMT

SMRY: California ant-gay initiative

The Denver Post, December 9, 1992, Michael Booth
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              California anti-gay initiative next?

A powerful California religious lobby with ties to Colorado for
Family Values is proposing a ballot initiative similar to
Amendment 2, signaling that the movement against gay rights is
spreading to other states.

The move by the Traditional Values Coalition, led by the Rev. Lou
Sheldon and supported by 7,800 evangelical churches, is the first
evidence that states outside Colorado and Oregon are likely to
see the same gay-rights firestorm that accompanied Amendment 2.

The coalition's Colorado director, Barbara Sheldon, sits on the
executive board of Colorado for Family Values.  Barbara Sheldon,
who is not related to Lou Sheldon, said yesterday she expects the
Traditional Values Coalition to bring similar action in a number
of states.

A California businessman who contributed $25,000 to Colorado for
Family Values also has been a supporter of Lou Sheldon and
California conservative groups.

Gay-rights activists around the nation point to the coalition's
move in California as proof of their claim that Colorado was
merely a test case for finding the right anti-gay language that a
majority of voters would approve.

"They have found what they believe to be a winning formula, and
they are going to use it in as many places as they can," said
David Smith, director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against
Discrimination in Los Angeles.

Lou Sheldon helped organize the family values message of the
Republican National Convention last summer and is credited by
California analysts with persuading Gov. Pete Wilson to veto a
statewide gay-rights bill last year.

After a sharp backlash, Wilson signed a more limited bill in
September that prohibits discrimination in employment only.

The Traditional Values Coalition signaled its intent in a fund-
raising letter sent late last month to supporters, asking them to
"prayerfully consider supporting a statewide ballot proposition
on the heterosexual ethic."

Claiming that homosexuals and the "liberal elite" have launched a
"cultural war" against traditional families, the letter also
mentions the passage of Amendment 2.

"While on Nov. 3, 1992, pro-family activists won a measure
prohibiting homosexual 'special rights' in Colorado, there is no
guarantee that a campaign such as this one will succeed.  But the
greatest danger is not doing anything at all."

Steve Sheldon, son of Lou Sheldon and director of the coalition,
confirmed the group was working with other church, business and
community leaders on a proposed ballot initiative.

He would not comment on the wording of the proposed initiative,
but said his group opposes gay-rights laws such as those passed
by Denver, Boulder and Aspen and subsequently repealed by
Amendment 2.

"There is no compelling need for the legislation.  It's an
attempt by liberal social engineers to force the lifestyle on
society," he said.

The Traditional Values Coalition and Colorado for Family Values
had no formal ties, said Will Perkins, spokesman for the Colorado
group, but they did share information. "We kept in touch."

The only other state with a political group like Colorado for
Family Values before now was Oregon, whose voters rejected a
measure Nov. 3 that would have declared homosexuality perverse.

---------------------------------------------------
Well boys and girls, it's starting to happen in other places.  If we
don't get it overturned or repealed here, where are we going to be safe?


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