From: rdonahue@spdcc.com (Bob Donahue)
Subject: Re: Attention Skiers Boycotting Colorado
Organization: insert anything here
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1993 05:02:09 GMT

kpm@druhi.ATT.COM (Kevin Malloy (DoD #106)) writes:
>rdonahue@spdcc.com (Bob Donahue) says:
>> elections.  Since it will take about 2-5 years for CO:2 to be overturned,
>> are facing having to redo 25+ years of gay rights work because you
>> people didn't get it right the first time.  Sorry I'm so upset
>> about this, it's only my life after all...  Thilly me.

>Please, please.  I don't think that _we_ got it wrong, I think the
>fundies finally found a message that played in Paonia (there's no
>Peoria in Colorado).  Clearly, Colorado was a test-market for the
>right-wing's latest attack against us.  They won.

	Well, yes and no.  OK, "yes"... but (yeah that had to bein there)
"we" did some things wrong --- "we" underestimated them.  Our
mistake wasn't in content or morality --- it was in planning.
I hope we won't make that mistake again.

>Until Nov. 3rd, we'd made tremendous gains here in Colorado.  Aspen
>passed it's lesbigay rights law in 197[6|8] without any big fanfare.
>Boulder enacted its law by referendum in 1988 (the only jurisdiction
>in the nation to _enact_ a lesbigay rights law by referendum).  Denver
>passed its law in 1990 and Denver voters failed to repeal in 1991.
>The Gov signed an executive order banning discrimination in the work place
>in 1991.  Denver Public Schools, Boulder Valley Public Schools, the
>Regional Transportation District, the University of Colorado system,
>Colorado State University, and many others enacted anti-discrimination
>policies.

	Yes... at no point should ANYONE accuse Colorado of NOT
having been a forerunner in GBLO*-rights.  I think that's why this
whole thing HURTS so much!  I mean had it been, oh, Mississippi,
I think that people would have been upset, but there would have
been more of an [irrational] rationalization because the stereotype
of Mississippi lends itself to anti-GBLO* things... regardless
of whether that stereotype is even remotely valid.  But *Colorado*,
that's suppose to be such a LIBERAL place --- rife with GBLO*-support
(as evidenced by all you post above) --- and I think that people just
felt betrayed and shocked that they were "let down" by CO:2.  In
a way that's unfair too --- since obviously the people *in* CO
were let down more (having to live there to pick up the pieces and
carry on...), but people's feelings aren't completely controlable.

>But, yes, all this is undone because of the passage of Amendment #2.
>And we have to fix this, we being Coloradans who believe in the cause
>of justice and fairness, we being Americans who believe in the same.
>And we have to stop the spread of this hateful thing to other states.
>The fundies have put us on the defensive.  

	Oh I hope not --- the defensive means you have to wait for
the offense to make their move...  I say get offensive...  I know
that W*lt*r thinks we're more than offensive enough, but he's just
a sweet-talker that way... ;-)

>Yes, 25+ years of lesbigay civil rights gains are on the line -- they
>always have been.  Yes, CO:2 is a setback, we've had them before, but
>this will, in a historical sense, be Gov. Wallace's stand at the
>school-house door.  Time is on _our_ side -- we will win.  Even in
>defeat, we've made tremendous gains.

	YES!  Well I hope so --- certainly the parallels are there
(despite those who refuse to see them) --- and there is going to
come that final battle where all the stakes are on the line.
Maybe in a way we're all a little bit scared of having to put it all on 
the line --- settle for half-rights instead of none... but I think that
eberyone knows that there's really no such thing as a half-right.
I honestly can't see the gains yet --- you're closer than I, from
where I stand I see a lot of confusion, a lot of incoherence, and
no plan of attack.  Hell --- maybe that's what I'm supposed to see,
and you people have just SET UP some elaborate smoke screen to confused
the enemy as well... :-)  I suppose my expectation is that a setback like
this would somehow mobilize people --- that people would "wake up" and
realize that what goes on in Estes Park affects Tuscaloosa and vice
versa... maybe it's too soon to notice the chariots moving, being
on here you get news a LOT faster than the masses... I suppose I expect
the world to move at faster than 56 Kbaud... :-)

>[Pundit alert]

>If this referendum had been held four years ago, it probably would have
>passed by 20 points.  Had they tried here four years from now, it would
>have gone down by a wide margin.  Why do I think this?  In Denver, in
>May, 1991, a repeal of "sexual orientation" in Denver's human rights
>law was defeated 45-55% (roughly 45,000 to 55,000 votes).  In 1992,
>Denver voted No on 2 40-60% (roughly 81,000 to 121,000 votes).  A
>tremendous gain for us.  In Ft. Collins, a 1989 referendum to enact
>lesbigay rights was defeated 58-42%.  This year, Ft. Collins narrowly
>voted No on 2.

	Yes - I thin it's miportant that people not lose sight
of this --- if for nothing else it means that any future repeal
of 2 is likely to go more in our favor --- esp. I hope that now
people who realize they were conned into a "wrong" vote won't make
the mistake again and people who were oblivious to our entrenchment
in the mainstream community feel the effects of our dissatisfaction.
There will be some people who are impervious to this - I think we've
have plenty of stuff to draw on recently - (no smiley), and we
can't let that stop us.

>We _will_ fix this.  We will need your help.  But let's not fall prey
>to the blame game.  The fundies want us to do just that.  So far, it's
>working.

	Yes (Sigh).  any suggestions on what we can do out here to
focus the "blame" on the people truly responsible?  Part of the
path to victory is identifying who the "right" people are... if
we are to win we at some point have to say in effect "the people
who said CO:2 was good for CO [insert list here] were wrong...
you trusted their judgement and things are definitely worse..."
I mean *we* know who they are --- but has anyone sought to hold
them accountable for the repercussions?  So far all I've heard
is that the CFV is trying to blame the boycott on "our hateful
disposition"... but they haven't offered CO any solution to the
$$$ beign lost - certainly they aren't offering to pay for it...