From: WAND_M@gold.colorado.edu
Subject: State takes aim at Amendment 2 ban
Followup-To: amend2-discuss@cs.colorado.edu
Originator: doherty@ucsu.Colorado.EDU
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 04:41:30 GMT

Gazette Telegraph, Colorado Springs
January 20, 1993

Appeals filed in two courts

By Louis Aguilar

DENVER--The state of Colorado, as promised, began legal efforts Tuesday that it 
hopes will lift a court-ordered ban on enforceent of Amendment 2.

Late in the day, the state attorney general's staff filed motions in two 
separate courts seeking to overturn an injunction issued last week that keeps 
the amendment off the books until a constitutional challenge is settled.

Denver District Court Judge Jeff Bayless grantaed that temporary injunction 
Friday--the same day the amendment was to have become part of the state 
constitution.  Only hours after the ruling, Gov. Roy Romer and state Attorney 
General Gale Norton vowed to appeal the decision.

Thus, the state filed two motions with the state Supreme Court, one asking that 
the injunction be overturned and the other asking the court make a speedy 
decision because "the public interest is great."  There has been speculation 
that the state's highest court could take months to render a decision about the 
injunction.

In the appeal, the attorney general argued that Bayless' decision is of 
"exceptional public importance" and meets the three criteria for a Supreme 
Court matter: Amendment 2 has not yet been ruled on by the high court; it is an 
important state question; and it is such a significant decision that it should 
not have to go through the usual appellate process.  

A separate motion filed in denver District Court asks that a stay be issued to 
preent enforcement of Bayless' temporary injunctioj.

The latest moves by the state essentially just get the papaerwork in motion.  
When either court will rule on the state's appeals is unknown.  Moreover, the 
state hasn't detailed what points of Bayless' decision it intends to challenge.

Amendment 2, authored by the Colorado Springs-based group Colorado for Family 
Values, bans laws in Colorado that protect gays, lesbians and bisexuals from 
discrimination based on their sexual orientation.  Voters passed the measure on 
Nov. 3 by 53 percent to 47 percent.  Eight homosexuals, a heterosexual with 
AIDS, and the cities of Denver, Boulder and Aspen sought the temporary 
injunction granted last week.  The same group shortly after the election filed 
a suit in Denver District Court alleging that the amendment is 
unconstitutional.  That suit, yet to be scheduled for trial, will also be 
heard by Bayless.

Bayless granted the injunction because he said the amendment may promote 
discrimination towarad homosexuals by not allowing them to fight many forms of 
bigotry--including in jobs and housing--through the courts or other legal 
avenues.  That potentially violataes the 14th Amendment of the U.S. 
Constitution, which promises equal protection under the law.

However, the state believes the amendment merely makes Colorado civil laws 
conform to federal civil rights laws, which don't designate homosexuals and 
bisexuals as a group that deserves added protection from discrimination.

When the attorney general's office will detail its arguments to the state 
Supreme Court is unknown, said Shawn Mitchell, special counsel to the attorney 
general.  Romer and Norton couldn't be reached for comment.


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