From: carlosm@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Carlos Maltzahn)
Subject: Boulder will join a lawsuit vs. Amendment 2
Originator: gina@tigger
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 07:25:25 GMT

Colorado Daily (11/12/92):



City will join a lawsuit vs. Amendment 2

----------------------------------------



De Raimes says it'll be an 'uphill' battle



By Peter Pochna



The battle against Amendment 2 continued Tuesday when the 
Boulder City Council voted unanimously to join Aspen and 
Denver in a lawsuit aimed at overturning the state measure 
that forbids laws protecting homosexuals from discrimina-
tion.

Gay and lesbian activists praised the decision, and said 
that homosexuals nationwide will boycott Colorado until the 
amendment is overturned.

"It sends a message to the rest of the state that a number 
of cities will not sstand for a violation of the constitu-
tion," gay CU student Ryon Brame said about the council's 
decision.

The lawsuit is expected to be filed in Denver District 
Court today. City Attorney Joe de Raismes said the plain-
tiffs will base their case on the ground that the amendment 
violates the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment 
to the U.S. Constituion. The suit also claims the amendment 
wrongfully takes power from home-rule cities, which are man-
dated to govern autonomously. Denver and Boulder have been 
granted home-rule status.

But de Raismes added that the plaintiffs face an "uphill" 
battle, because courts give deference to votes of the peo-
ple.

Colorado voters last week approved the amendment 54 per-
cent to 46 percent. The amendment prohibits state and local 
governments from adopting or enforcing laws that provide 
that gay, lesbian or bisexual conduct entitles a person to 
claim protected status, quota preferences or descrimination.

Bouder residents, who voted against Amendment 2 by a 3-1 
ratio, approved a local law in 1987 that forbids discimina-
tion in employment and housing based on sexual orentation. 
Denver and Aspen have similar laws, and Amendment 2 forbids 
the cities from enforcing the laws.

Along with challenging the amendment, the cities will seek 
an injunction that allows them to enforce their laws while 
the suit is pending.

Boulder Mayor Leslie Durgin said that since last Tuesday's 
election, the city has received 1,100 calls urging the coun-
cil to pursue the lawsuit and 150 calls urging the council to 
let the amendment stand.

Many of the people who voiced opposition to the lawsuit 
said the city shouldn't waste taxpayer money on the effort, 
Durgin said. De Raismes said the lawsuit would cost about 
$5,000.

A crowd of about 60 people at Tuesday night's meeting 
cheered the council's action.

"In Colorado, black bears now have more protection than 
gay people," said lesbian activist Ellen Orleans, referring 
to another amendment Colorado voters passed last week that 
banned the spring black-bear hunt.

Orleans handed a poster to the council declaring the coun-
cil chambers a "Hate Free Zone." She said the posters will be 
distributed to area businesses that want to be spared the 
wrath of the boycott.

A group called COFFIN, Coloradoans and Californians for 
Fairness in the Nation, is organizing the boycott. "It's 
time to put the nail in the coffin of hate once and for all," 
said COFFIN spokesman Philip Lobel. "We will be urging all 
groups, from tourism and travel to music and the arts, to 
boycott the state until this terrible injustice is set 
right."

Brame compared the boycott to an action taken against the 
state of Arizona a few years ago after Arizona residents 
voted against declaring Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a 
state holiday. He said that boycott cost Arizona about $200 
million.

Ricky Wiser of Plan Boulder County said the amendment is 
so heinous that the city should go beynd litigation. "We as a 
community probalby should secede from the state of Colorado, 
" she said.

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