Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Navratilova, 6 others sue to void law against gay rights Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 15:11:15 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \HD Navratilova, 6 others sue to void law against gay rights ordinances \BY Nancy E. Roman \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Tennis star Martina Navratilova and six other Colorado residents have challenged that the state's new law prohibiting cities from enacting homosexual-rights ordinances is unconstitutional. In a separate action yesterday, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that an anti-homosexual-rights measure passed by Oregon voters four years ago is unconstitutional. "Gay civil rights has become the issue of the year and of this following decade," said Josephine Ross, executive director of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders. "Just a general argument that exists in every state [is] that by targeting one particular group it does violate the Constitution." The 14-page complaint filed in Colorado District Court in Denver yesterday says the Colorado law, which passed with 53 percent of the vote, violates both the state and federal constitutions. "Amendment 2 is blatantly unconstitutional and is precisely what the [Constitution's] equal protection clause prohibits," said Ruth E. Harlow, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which joined in the suit. "The amendment was intended to and would encourage differential and discriminatory treatment against lesbians, gay men and bisexuals." The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says: "No state may deny any person, under its government, equal protection of the law." Will Perkins, a founder of the group Colorado for Family Values, which sponsored Amendment 2, played down the legal challenge and noted that the law has been deemed constitutional by the state attorney general. "Our objectives have never been to discriminate," he said. "Our position is that sexual orientation is not an acceptable criteria for special rights." The plaintiffs are from Denver, Boulder and Aspen - the three Colorado cities with homosexual-rights laws. None except Miss Navratilova has made his name public because of the possibility of "hate mail and bomb threats," ACLU officials said. James Joy, executive director of the ACLU of Colorado, said the law "singles out particular groups and says they cannot pursue their rights." Moreover, he said the law violates the Constitution's mandate of separation of church and state because the amendment was motivated by religious values. An official of Colorado for Family Values said the group is not religious. "We are a political action committee," he said, declining to give his name. Robert Bray, spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said 1,200 activists are gathering in Los Angeles to "assess and strategize around these hostile referenda attacks." "This is an extreme high priority for the gay community because these attacks represent an attempt to roll back the limited gay rights that people do have in this country," he said. Mr. Bray said yesterday's Oregon court ruling, which ruled as unconstitutional an initiative known as Measure 8, bodes well for the Colorado gay community's legal challenge. Measure 8 repealed an executive order by former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt prohibiting state agencies from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. In their ruling yesterday, the three-judge panel said: "A statute that establishes a content-based restriction on the free expression rights of public employees cannot be sustained." Measure 8 was sponsored by the Oregon Citizens Alliance, a group that this year sponsored a measure to amend the state constitution to declare homosexuality abnormal and perverse. Voters rejected that measure this month. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM