From: WAND_M@gold.colorado.edu
Subject: Mayors to reconsider Springs convention
Followup-To: amend2-discuss@cs.colorado.edu
Originator: blough@ucsu.Colorado.EDU
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 21:52:12 GMT

Amendment 2 spurs second thoughts
By Rich Laden, Gazette Telegraph, Colorado Springs
December 4, 1992

Mayors from around the country, on record as supporting gay rights, will 
reconsider holding their annual convention in Colorado Springs next summer 
because of the passage of Amendment 2.

Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, whose City Council last month adopted a 
resolution barring him from traveling to Colorado because of Amendment 2, asked 
the U.S. Conference of Mayors to take another look at whether its convention 
should be held in Colorado Springs as scheduled in June.

It's too soon to tell whether the group would move the convention, which would 
bring 1,000 to 1,500 mayors and their staff members to Colorado Springs for six 
days of meetings.  Many of thos eexpected to attend are the nation's most 
powerful big-city mayors.

Even more important than the $500,000 the convention will bring to hotels, 
restaurants and stores is the publicity that local toursim officials figure the 
prestigious event would generate for the Pikes Peak region.

The conference of mayors chose Colorado Springs for its 1993 convention three 
years ago, largely because of the lobbying of Mayor Robert Isaac--a 
high-ranking official of the group at that time.  Isaac was president of the 
group from 1990-91--the pinnacle of his 13-plus years as mayor.

Isaac is on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment.

The conference of mayors' 18-member executive committee-including Isaac--will 
take up the question of the convention site, possibly when it meets in 
Washington D.C., next month as a part of the group's annual winter get-together.

Nobody knows what the outcome might be, but Isaac's input will be considered 
along with that of other mayors, said J. Thomas Cochran, the conference's 
executive director.  The group's president, Mayor William Althaus of York, Pa., 
could not be reached for comment.

The mayors might discuss a resolution they adopted in 1984 in support of gay 
rights.  That resolution, which was passed unanimously at the group's 
convention, "recognizes the right of all citizens, regardless of sexual 
orientation, to full participation in American society, and recommends that all 
levels of government adopt legal protections for the rights of gay and lesbian 
Americans."

However, Amendment 2 prohibits laws protecting gays from discrimination based 
on sexual orientation.  It also repealed laws in Aspen, Denver and Boulder that 
gave homosexuals protection.

Does the mayors' resolution conflict with Amendment 2, and would the group 
consider pulling its convention from Colorado Springs as a result?

"That will be for the executive committee members to consider and discuss with 
their president," Cochran said.

Amendment 2 was passed Nov. 3 by Colorado voters by a 53 percent to 47 percent 
margin.  It has prompted some people to urge a boycott of Colorado.  Already, 
some groups have canceled conventions and meetings in the state.






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