MAY 19, 1995 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 7
Appeals court upholds Cincinnati's Issue 3
Continued from page 1
the opinion written by Krupansky.
The amendment was appoved by voters in November 1993. Colorado for Family Values, a conservative coalition which passed a similar amendment there, contributed $390,000 of the $525,000 spent in Equal Rights' campaign to pass Issue 3. A separate complaint to the Ohio Elections Commission charges
that the Colorado group laundered Ohio money, so contributors
tional to single out gays and lesbians as a class of persons who should be forbidden equal rights and protection against discrimination.
O'Neill said that the Cincinnati case, however, is pushing the boundaries of the law to include gays along with other "suspect
The unanimous three-judge panel crafted an opinion which compared
homosexality to pedophilia
could avoid giving their names as required by Ohio law. That case is still pending.
The involvement of the conservative Colorado coalition came as no surprise to Ohio civil rights leaders, since the legal battle in Cincinnati parallels the Colorado one. Colorado's Amendment Two was struck down by state courts there, and is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Colorado case drew national attention, and resulted in a boycott of the state by people across the country who were disturbed by the codification of anti-gay discrimination.
In Cincinnati as well, boycotts are already starting. Cleveland social worker Debra Dunkle said that, upon hearing of "the latest debacle" by the Cincinnati court, the Ohio Psychological Association, which had its June conference scheduled to take place in Cincinnati, is now looking for a different host city, and is thinking of canceling their conference altogether.
The chances that Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati Inc. v. City of Cincinnati will also advance to the Supreme Court are very strong. The combined team of civil rights lawyers have ninety days to file a petition for the case to be heard. Once the Supreme Court decides to hear this case, they have the discretion to consolidate the Colorado and Cincinnati cases, hearing them together, since the issues are virtually identical.
The main difference between the Colorado and Cincinnati cases, said ACLU of Cleveland legal director Kevin O'Neill, lies in the legal arguments being made. Civil rights lawyers in the Colorado case are arguing that the denial of civil rights protection to gays and lesbians fails the Supreme Court "rational basis" test, meaning that it is irra-
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classes" (Supreme Court-speak for groups which have historically been discriminated against), which would require that laws singling out gays and lesbians must not just be ar-
guably "rational", but that the government must show a compelling interest in discriminating against gays, and that such laws as the Cincinnati amendment must be the only way to achieve such compelling ends.
There are many constitutional arguments available to Lambda, the ACLU, and the other lawyers working on this case, and the battle is far from over. As the Colorado case and this case are heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, the decisions by the "swing vote" justices, Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy, in particular, "will be profoundly important in terms of either freeing or preventing cities from dropping antidiscrimination protection for gays and lesbians," said O'Neill.
"It's important to put this decision in perspective," O'Neill explained. "We achieved something of a miraculous victory in trial court, and this miracle has now been snuffed out. We pushed the contours of the law outward... and all that's happened now is the Sixth Circuit has brought us back to where we were before."
Suzanne B. Goldberg, a lawyer for Lambda Legal Defense Fund, was stunned by Friday's decision.
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"This ruling contains a shocking disregard for basic constitutional guarantees," she said. "It sets up a second-class citizenship for gay people and leaves all Americans vulnerable to being similarly exluded from the political process."
Cincinnati's Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who opposed the effort to restict gay rights, also
denounced the appeals court ruling. "The ruling is a disappointment to all who support equal rights and equal treatment for all Cincinnati citizens," she said. "Despite the court ruling, I hope all citizens of Cincinnati will continue to practice tolerance and respect for all members of our city."
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