From: SMITH_G@gold.colorado.edu 
Subject: Support grows for campaign to boycott state
Followup-To: co.politics.amend2.discuss
Originator: gina@rintintin.Colorado.EDU
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 18:13:01 GMT

--From the (Boulder) Daily Camera, Nov. 20, 1992
  by Alysia Tate    Reprinted without permission


   A campaign to boycott Colorado after voters approved an amendment
prohibiting gay rights laws continues to grow, with new advocates including
actress and producer Barbra Streisand.
   In Denver Thursday, a newly formed group announced its intention to
keep track of--and publicize--what the boycott is costing the state.
   "We are calling upon all the citizens of the United States and of
the world to boycott Colorado as a destination for business or recreational
purposes and to boycott all products originating in the state," a Boycott
Colorado spokesman said at a news conference.
   "We're made up of a diverse group of people across the state who are
angry and outraged at the passage of Amendment 2.  We want to create change
through demonstrating our economic power," spokesman Terry Schleder said.
   The passage of Amendment 2 angered many in the state because it made 
anti-discrimination policies based on sexual orientation illegal.  Advocates
of the amendment say it prevents gays, lesbians and bisexuals from receiving
special treatment.
   Streisand, the best-known advocate for the boycott to date, told 
celebrities gathered at an AIDS fund-raiser in Los Angeles Wednesday, "Just
look at the vote for hate in Colorado where voters rescinded any protection
for gays in employment or housing.  There are plenty of us who love the
mountains and rivers of that truly beautiful state, but we must now say
clearly that the moral climate there is no longer acceptable.  And if
we're asked to, we must refuse to play where they discriminate."
   Elsewhere, the Atlanta City Council approved a controversial measure
to ban expenditure of city funds for travel to Colorado and other cities
are reportedly considering similar measures; the U.S. Student Association
has canceled plans to hold its January national conference at the 
University of Colorado; the Coalition of Labor Union Women has canceled
its four-day convention in Denver next November.
   But delegates to last weekend's Gay and Lesbian National Task Force
conference in Los Angeles refrained from condemning or condoning a boycott.
Some of the 1,200 delegates worried a boycott would hurt businesses and
communities that opposed the measure.
   Kent Zimmerman, executive director of the Convention and Visitors 
Bureau has not heard of any boycotts affecting Boulder and hotels contacted
by the Daily Camera know of no effects.
   Zimmerman wants the rest of the country to know that the vote for
Amendment 2 did not include Boulder, Denver and Aspen--the three towns that
have anti-discrimination ordinances covering homosexuals and the three
areas likely to be hit the hardest by the boycott.  "We're hoping that the 
message gets across that the state is much more accepting and liberal than
what this vote seemed to indicate," he said.
   "I think Arizona is a good example of what could happen," Zimmerman said of
the isolation of that state several years ago after it voted down the 
Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
   Denver Center for the Performing Arts President Lester Ward said while
Streisand's call Wednesday for performers to boycott the state is
understandable, she isn't solving the problem.
   "We call on assistance from all artists to come to Colorado to talk about
these problems and make the public aware of them--not just boycott the state,"
he said in a statement issused Thursday.
   Boycott Colorado is also working on an educaiton campaign, including
promoting "hate-free" businesses that do not discriminate against gays.
The group leading that effort in Boulder is B BOLD -- Boulder Businesses
Opposed to Legalized Discrimination.
   Ellen Orleans, coordinator of B BOLD, said the group is distributing 
"hate-free zone" signs for businesses as holiday shopping increases.
"The idea is to spend money with people who support equal rights and civil
rights for all people," Orleans said.
   Several hundred businesses will also get a letter from the group requesting
that they publicly announce anti-discrimination policies for their workplaces.
The group will also take out a full-page signature newspaper ad in early- to
mid-December, Orleans said.

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