Mayor Supports Colorado Travel Ban for Workers

Mayor Tom Bradley on Monday threw his support behind a proposal to ban city employees from traveling on business to Colorado, in protest of a new law in that state that prohibits ordinances that protect the rights of homosexuals.

In a letter to the City Council, issued by Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani, the mayor called for support of a proposal by Councilman Michael Woo to join in an expanding nationwide boycott of Colorado.

The issue is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday and, if approved, would add Los Angeles to a growing list of communities and companies that are turning business away from Colorado.

New York last week joined Atlanta and Philadelphia among the major cities boycotting Colorado, which has also seen several major organizations cancel conventions since the passage Nov. 3 of a controversial ballot measure. Amendment 2, as the law is known, prohibits the Colorado Legislature and the state’s counties and cities from passing gay rights laws.

On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California also called for an economic boycott, urging businesses to avoid scheduling conventions in Colorado and asking entertainment firms to make movies, television shows and recordings elsewhere.

“Colorado is one of the most beautiful states in our country,” Ramona Ripston, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement announcing the boycott. “Unfortunately, with passage of Amendment 2, Colorado is also a place of intolerance and where intolerance has now been codified.”

In calling for the city to halt employees’ travel to Colorado, Woo said last week: “We must fight bigotry wherever we find it. And we must never use taxpayer funds to support hatred.”

In his letter, Bradley said he is an “ardent” supporter of the Woo proposal.

“I find this (Colorado) legislation offensive and abhorrent to all those individuals who have fought in the struggle to guarantee civil rights for all people in this country,” the Bradley letter said.

Woo, who is running for mayor, said that the “timely action” by Bradley in supporting the boycott will help lead to its passage by the council.

City Councilman Joel Wachs, another mayoral hopeful, also called for support of the boycott last week--specifically urging the U.S. Conference of Mayors to cancel its annual meeting this June in Colorado Springs.