From: carlosm@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Carlos Maltzahn)
Subject: Suit filed against Amendment 2
Originator: gina@tigger
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 21:13:13 GMT

Colorado Daily 11/13/92:

Suit filed against Amendment 2

Campus minister listed as plaintiff

By Bronson Hilliard

DENVER - A lawsuit challenging Amendment 2, which denies 
protection from discrimination for gays, lesbians and bisex-
uals, names the Rev. Priscilla Inkpen, a CU campus minister, 
as a plaintiff in the case, according to legal briefs filed 
in Denver District Court Thursday morning.

Inkpen, identified as a lesbian in the suit, joined Aspen 
tennis star Martina Navritilova, Denver police officer 
Angela Romero, and four other private citizens as individual 
plaintiffs in the suit aganist the amendment, approved by 
Colorado voters 54 to 46 percent last week.

Amendment 2 forbids state and local governments from passing 
anti-discrimination laws based on sexual orientation. Boul-
der, Denver and Aspen, three cities that have such laws, are 
also plaintiffs in the suit.

Inkpen, who works with United Campus Ministries in Higher 
Education in Boulder, has been a prominent local voice 
aganst discrimination and Amendment 2, but has, up until 
now, not publicly acknowledged her sexual orientation.

"Basically, it was only a matter of time until I came out 
publicly," said Inkpen. "People need to know that there are a 
lot of gay people around, that it's not just `strange' peo-
ple, but people very close to them, people in the community."

Inkpen said she couldn't offer any other comment on her 
involvement against the amendment, or the implications of 
that involvement on her personally, other than saying, "I 
feel honored to be a part of this. This thing is very danger-
ous and needs to be challenged."

Plaintiffs are being represented jointly by the American 
Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, the ACLU's Lesbian and 
Gay Rights Project, the Colorado Legal Inititives Project, 
and the Lamona Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Jim Joy, executive director of the Colorado ACLU, said the 
challenge could conceivably go all the way to the U.S. 
Supreme Court, and that the Colorado challenge is based upon 
the "vagueness" of the law and its conflict with protection 
guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

"It's a denial of the equal-protection clause of the U.S. 
Constitution, as well as the rights of petition and free 
speech for gays, lesbians and bisexuals." Joy said at a Den-
ver press conference Thursday morning.

Joy also said the provision would coerce citizens into 
adherence with a state-approved belief toward sexual orien-
tation based on religious beliefs.

Joy was joined by Boulder Mayor Leslie Durgin, Denver Mayor 
Wellington Webb, CLIP attorney Mary Celeste, and Colorado 
ACLU legal coordinator David Miller at the press conference.

Both mayors justified their city's opposition to the amend-
ment, citing resident votes against it and the legal weight 
of "home rule", a constitutional designation given to some 
cities that allows them to govern autonomously.

Durgin cited the overwhelming support of Boulder residents 
in both the 1987 vote to approve the city anti-discrimina-
tion provision toward gays, lesbians and bisexuals, and the 
city's recent overwhelming "no" vote aganst Amendment 2, as 
added motivations in joining a legal challenge against it.

Durgin also said the City Council had approved the use of 
city funds to fight it at its Tuesday meeting, and added that 
city expenditures to fight the amendment would be monitored 
closely.

"We've had over 1,100 calls supporting the fight aganst it. 
I've asked the city attorney to get involved and keep us 
(Durgin and the council) posted on the costs in fighting it," 
Durgin said.

"Clearly, it is unconstitutional, but as important, it's 
patently unfair."

Until all legal challenges to Amendment 2 are completed, the 
city will continue to uphold the provisions of its anti-dis-
crimination law, Durgin said.

Miller, who answered questions from reporters at the news 
conference regarding the legality of the challenge to the 
amendment, said that legal counsel for the plaintiffs would 
seek an injunction against the implementation of it state-
wide, but wasn't sure how long such a move would take.

Webb and Celeste joined Durgin in justifying legal opposi-
tion to its implementation.

"I think a lot of the campaign strategy (by Colorado for Fam-
ily Values, the amendment's sponsor) was misleading, and 
although the people have spoken, they might not be sure of 
what they've spoke about," Celeste said.

Webb said if the people had passed amendments upholding sla-
very or denying women's suffrage, the checks and balances 
system of the courts would be the logical and necessary place 
to turn for a reversal of fortune.

"The fact is, various people have been singled out and dis-
criminated against. We should do everything in our power to 
ensure that no matter what law is put on the books, this 
isn't allowed to happen," Webb said.

The individual plaintiffs in the case, Joy said, were "all 
people who've been affected by this," and the ACLU's press 
release, which did not name Inkpen, described her as "an 
ordained minister who has never before publicly acknowledged 
being a lesbian."

The press conference, scheduled by the ACLU and CLIP, would 
have coincided with a Colorado for Family Values press con-
ference that was scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at the state 
Capitol, but the group issued a statement Wednesday cancel-
ling the conference.

The statement said the group "wanted to avoid the risk of a 
possible confrontation" with those who have "a vested inter-
est in seeing predictions of a climate of hate come true."

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