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GAYLE'S CHRONICLE

An Independent Chronicle of

Lesbian and Gay Community

Volume 9, Issue 13 December 24, 1993

Amendment 2 ruled unconstitutional

Denver-Gay rights attorneys December 14 applauded a district judge's ruling that declared Amendment 2 unconstitutional, and said it warns anti-rights advocates not to tread on the civil rights of gays.

Mary Celeste, an attorney for the anti-Amendment 2 side, said the ruling puts other cities and states where similar laws are pending on notice that "they'd better be careful not to step on the toes of fundamental rights."

Eight states have similar initiatives pending that would prohibit passage of laws protecting gays. Religious right groups have said they will attempt to get one on the November 1994 ballot in Ohio.

"We believe we presented the best evidence possible at trial, and Judge Bayless and the Colorado Supreme Court will be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court justices," said Celeste.

Boulder City Attorney Joe de Raismes III said, "I think we are elated that he decided the case our way and granted the permanent injunction. We all know the case is not going to end here."

Assistant Colorado Attorney Tim Tymkovich said the state likely will appeal the decision to the Colorado Supreme Court.

Both sides have predicted that the case eventually will end up at the U.S. Supreme Court level.

In a 17-page decision issued without comment, Denver District Judge Jeffrey Bayless said Amendment 2 is unconstitutional because it violates "the fundamental right of an identifiable group to participate in the political process without being supported by a compelling state interest."

In defending Amendment 2, the state attempted to show there were six compelling state interests that justified the initiative. Bayless rejected four, including a claim that "there is militant gay aggression in this state which endangers the state's political functions."

He also said the evidence did not persuade him that without Amendment 2, gays would be able to lay claim to special protection now afforded minorities, as Amendment 2's supporters said.

The judge said only two compelling interests-promotion of religious freedom and family privacy-were supported by evidence. But Bayless said Amendment 2 wasn't sufficiently narrow to achieve those ends without violating gays' constitutional rights.

XPRESS

Lesbian retreat under fire

Ovett, Miss.-The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force asked the government December 8 to help protect a feminist educational retreat run by two lesbians in rural Mississippi.

Attorney General Janet Reno was asked to provide "immediate assistance in ending a violent situation in Ovett, Mississippi, between the community and two lesbians However, Bayless also said gays who own land in Jones County.. The women's lives are in danger." Continued on Page 6

There was no immediate re-

sponse by the Justice Department.

The call by Task Force Executive Director Peri Jude Radecic in Washington followed a community meeting in Ovett on December 6 attended by about 250 people opposed to the retreat, called Sister Spirit Inc.

Wanda Henson, 39, and Brenda Henson, 48, said they set up the retreat on a one-time pig farm to champion issues important to women and to provide assistance to those in need. Sister Spirit helps senior citizens, food banks and the downtrodden. Last year, Sister Spirit collected 40,000 pounds of

food for a coast food bank. The two women, who are a couple, said about 20 women live at the retreat, located about 100 miles northeast of New Orleans.

The Hensons said they have been receiving threatening phone calls and found a dead dog hanging from their mailbox about a month ago.

Opponents of the retreat are hoping to use state laws forbidding sodomy to force the women to leave town. Paul Walley, an attorney for the board of supervisors in nearby Perry County, has volunContinued on Page 6

80% of Issue 3 money

came from Colorado

Colorado Springs, Colo.Colorado for Family Values contributed nearly 80 percent of the financing for a November antigay civil rights law campaign in Cincinnati.

The contribution to Cincinnati's Citizens for Community Values angered gay-rights activists in that city. "It's pretty obscene that that much money would come into our community from outside, to a group that claimed to be local," said Barry Grossheim, co-chair of Stonewall Cincinnati.

On November 2, Cincinnati residents approved Issue 3, an amendment to the city charter that would prohibit enforcement of any laws based on sexual orientation. Gay activists, arguing that the

amendment violates the constitutional rights of gays, obtained a federal judge's order blocking the charter amendment from taking effect until the issue can be fully argued in U.S. District Court.

Campaign finance reports released in October, before the election, showed that half of the Cincinnati anti-gay group's budget was supplied by the Colorado for Family Values, the group that sponsored that state's Amendment 2.

In campaign spending reports released in mid December, Citizens for Community Values said CFV supplied $390,100, or 79.3 percent, of the $491,773.51 it spent to promote the amendment.

Continued on Page 6

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