From: WAND_M@gold.colorado.edu
Subject: Colo. boycott to get worse, Webb says
Followup-To: amend2-discuss@cs.colorado.edu
Originator: doherty@ucsu.Colorado.EDU
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 07:21:34 GMT

By Bill McBean, Denver Post Staff Writer
December 10, 1992

Reeling from N.Y. visit, mayor scrubs Toronto trip

Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, reeling from a pummeling by New York City's mayor 
and media, yesterday predicted the Amendment 2 boycott of Colorado will get 
worse before it gets better.

"The reality is the boycott is going to spread," said Webb, back from a 
shortened trip to the East.   "The reality is this has become a discussion 
point across the country--whether we like it or not."

Amendment 2, passed by the state's voters 53-47 percent last month, overturns 
city ordinances in Denver, Aspen and Boulder that protected gays from 
discrimination.  It also bans such state or local laws in the future.

Webb, who was in New York on Monday and Tuesday touting the new airport and 
trying to stem the worsening boycott, canceled yesterdays' swing through 
Toronto and flew home Tuesday night.

"I was tired," Webb said.  "I was mentally and physically exhausted."  While in 
New York, Webb was hounded by the radical group Lesbian Avengers and was 
unsuccessful in dissuading Mayor David Dinkins from banning city travel to 
Colorado.

And, before Webb got on the plane Tuesday night, the Village Voice hit the 
stands with a scorching editorial supporting the boycott.  Webb met with Voice 
reporters earlier in the day.

Bill Dobbs, an activist with Queer Nation-New York, called Webb's visit a 
"public-relations disaster" for Colorado.

The mayor's trip invited national publicity--coverage that gay leaders said 
will spread, not stem, the boycott.

"Although we appreciate (Webb's) support for gay rights in the past, we thank 
him for being a walking billboard for the hate state," said Boycott Colorado 
spokeswoman Terry Schleder.  "It's free advertising for the atrocity of 
Amendment 2."

But Webb yesterday said he succeeded in his "damage control" mission--citing as 
proof a partial travel ban imposed yesteday by Seattle. Rather than banning the 
use of city funds for any travel to Colorado--as Atlanta, Philadelphia and New 
York City have--Seattle exempted Aspen, Denver and Boulder.

Also, Bruce Todd, mayor of Austin, Texas, has written Webb saying he 
sympathizes with Webb's position, and Nasvhille, Tenn., Mayor Philip Bredesen 
wrote to say he doesn't think his city will take any action against Denver.

Webb, who made 14 media stops in New York, traveled with the head of his gay 
and lesbian task force, as well as executives of the Greater Denver Chamber of 
Commerce.

At a news conference yesterday afternoon, Webb said Chamber of Commerce 
President Dick Fleming would go to the five appointments Webb and the others hd 
with Toronto government leaders and media yesterday.

What Webb didn't know was that when Fleming learned Webb was going home, 
Fleming flew home Tuesday night, too.

Fleming later said the interviews will be rescheduled.

Webb and his bodyguard used taxpayer money for airfare and hotel rooms in New 
York City.  The tab for Linda Fowler, head of Webb's gay-lesbian task force, 
was paid by the chamber.

In addition to his New York trip, Webb has taken his Amendment 2 boycott fight 
to "The Arsenio Hall Show" and "Entertainment Tonight" and was featured in 
People magazine.

	Denver Post staff writer Michael Booth contributed to this story.

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