The Nation - News from Dec. 14, 1988

In a victory for home rule and gay rights in the District of Columbia, a federal judge ruled that Congress acted unconstitutionally when it tried to force the district’s government to allow religious schools to discriminate against homosexuals. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth struck down a federal law that would cut off all $3.2 billion of the district’s funding unless the district’s council acted by Dec. 31 to revise its Human Rights Act. The judge ruled that the council’s votes are free speech protected by the Constitution. Sen. William L. Armstrong (R-Colo.) had proposed the measure in response to a protracted dispute between gay student groups and Georgetown University, a Roman Catholic institution.