From: Sheila Momaney <sheila_momaney@radmac1.cgl.ucsf.edu>
Subject: Anti-Gay Ordinance
Reply-To: sheila_momaney@radmac1.cgl.ucsf.edu
Organization: The Internet
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 19:09:48 GMT

GatorMail-Q                   Anti-Gay Ordinance

Listen up Colorado!!

From the S.F. Chronicle 11/17/92

JUDGE REVERSES CONCORD ANTI-GAY ORDINANCE
MEASURE M IS DECLARED UNCONSITUTIONAL AND DISCRIMINATORY
Concord's controversial antihomosexual ordinance was 
overturned yesterday by a judge who ruled that it was unconstitutional
and discriminatory. Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Ellen
James* ruled that Measure M, an initiative narrowly approved by voters
a year ago, violated both state and federal law by attempting to remove
protections for homosexuals from Concord's human rights ordinance.
"Measure M, in its entirety, is invalid," James announced, while two
men who attended the hearing waved their hands in the air and smiled
widely. James said the measure was "virtually identical" to a Riverside
initiative that was ruled unconstitutional by the state Court of Appeal 
last year.  Attempts by attorneys for Measure M to show that such
laws have a valid public health rationale, such as stopping the spread of AIDS,
were not successful.  Attorneys representing Concord residents
and such organizations as the Bay Area Network of Gay and Lesbian
Educators, who had asked to have Measure M overturned, said they are
thrilled with the decision.  "I'm elated", said Ron Mullin, who
represented Concord resident Jim Jester.  "I'm glad it's over."
Jester, a former Concord employee who filed a lawsuit along with his
wife because he was concerned about the measure's effect on the city, 
said he is not surprised by James' ruling but is sorry that it took more 
than a year for the case to get to court.  "I'm hoping that we can move 
on from here and Concord will quit becoming a battlefield for conservative
elements...who have been using it as a staging ground to espouse their 
cause of bigotry, " said Jester, who is not gay.  Mark Zapalik, 
executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, the group 
that backed the initiative, said he is"teribbly disappointed" with 
the court ruling.  "We're going to encourage the City Council to 
review this with the attorneys who handled it for the possibility of 
an appeal," Zapalik said.  Zapalik acknowledged that most of the 
Concord City Council was opposed to Measure M, which passed with a 
margin of only 42 votes.  he said he hopes they will review the case on 
its merits to see whether an appeal is warranted.  "I think this will 
present them an opportunity to reach deep inside and do the right thing 
in spite of their tendency to not want to on this particular issue," 
Zapalik said.  Measure M was never enacted because of the lawsuit filed 
to block it.  It was designed to change a 1991 human rights ordinance 
passed by the City Council to prohibit discrimination on the basis of 
sexual orientation.

oAlso, in Monday's letters to the editor, there was included a letter
from a Fort Collins, Colorado resident who suggested that a boycott
of goods produced in Colorado and travel to Colorado might be effective.
I no longer have the paper so can't tell you verbatim what was said.


*Wasn't Ellen James the character in Garp?  The Ellen James Society?



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