From: SMITH_G@gold.colorado.edu 
Subject: Unionists cancel convention over Amendment 2
Followup-To: co.politics.amend2.discuss
Originator: gina@rintintin.Colorado.EDU
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 21:12:29 GMT

--From the Denver Post, Thursday, Nov. 19, 1992
Reprinted without permission.
   By Jeffrey Leib

Unionists cancel convention over Amendment 2:  Tourism officials fear
others may pull out

   Responding to passage of the anti-gay-rights Amendment 2 in Colorado, a
national organization of women trade unionists has canceled its plans to bring
1,500 delegates to Denver for a convention next November.
   The Coalition of Labor Union Women canceled its four-day convention at 
the Radisson Hotel and is looking for a new site for the meeting outside 
Colorado.
   Tourism officials in Colorado are concerned that many more groups may
similarly cancel plans to hold conventions in the state because of 
Amendment 2, which repeals local anti-discrimination ordinances that protect 
gays and prohibits the passage of similar laws in the future.
   Denver, Boulder and Aspen had already passed such ordinances.
   Joyce Miller, a vice president of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile
Workers Union and the labor coalition's president, said the group very much 
wanted to come to Denver, but that her organization is opposed to policies
that discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin or
sexual orientation.
   "It would be contrary to our beliefs to hold an event...in a state that
advocates such discrimination," she said.  The labor group will consider Denver
as a convention site once again if Amendment 2 is "rescinded," she added.
Miller said the labor convention would have contributed as much as
$3 million to the metro Denver economy.
   Radisson sales director Michael Westerman said his hotel has not yet been
notified by the labor group about its plans to cancel its meeting.
   Rich Grant, of the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, said his 
group has received a number of inquiries from groups "asking for the exact
wording of the amendment."
   He said the American Library Association, which is scheduled to bring
6,500 delegates to the Colorado Convention Center early next year, is aware
that some association members may boycott the session because of the
Amendment 2 vote.  Grant said the ALA is slated to hold another convention
in Denver in 1995, but that event could now be jeopardized.
   The Radisson's Westerman said he's concerned that a convention and
tourism boycott of Colorado over Amendment 2 could end up resembling a 
similar five-year effort by groups to withhold business from Arizona 
after the failure of that state to approve an official state holiday
honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
   "We've heard rumors about a bunch of groups pulling" conventions from
Denver, he said.
   Earlier this month, Arizona voters finally approved a King holiday for
state employees.  The vote came five years after former Gov. Evan Mecham
rescinded an executive order that established the King holiday.  In 1990,
voters in Arizona also rejected the holiday.
   Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau spokesman Tony Alba said Arizona
lost 166 conventions representing 165,000 delegates since Mecham's action.
He said the financial loss totaled $190 million.
   Arizona also lost the opportunity to host the 1993 Super Bowl because
of the King holiday issue.  That event would have been worth another
$150 million to $200 million in tourism dollars, Alba said.
   "We've been through a tough situation; it cost us dearly for five years,
he said.
   Kevin Tebedo, executive director of Colorado for Family Values, the 
group that promoted Amendment 2, said it is "unfortunate if people do not
want to come to our beautiful state" because of the vote on the amendment.
   "It's their freedom if they choose to go elsewhere," he said.  "Of course
we're concerned, but the voters in this state made a decision, and people
have to live by it."
   A lawsuit has been filed in Denver District Court to overturn Amendment 2.

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