L.A. Hits Colorado With Bans Over Anti-Gay Measure

Joining a growing economic boycott of the state of Colorado, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday moved to ban all official travel there and restrict future contracts with Colorado-based companies as a protest of the state’s recently passed anti-homosexual law.

The council’s unanimous vote--which follows similar travel bans passed in New York, Atlanta and Philadelphia--means Los Angeles will not reimburse city employees for official trips to Colorado and will not enter into some contracts with Colorado companies.

The protest is aimed at Amendment 2, an initiative passed Nov. 3 that prohibits the Colorado Legislature and the state’s counties and cities from passing gay rights laws.

The council also voted to urge the U.S. Conference of Mayors to move its annual conference, which is scheduled for Colorado Springs next June, to the Los Angeles Convention Center. The executive committee of the mayors’ group will meet this morning in Washington to consider relocating the conference.

“This sends out a very clear message that we in Los Angeles will not tolerate bigotry based on sexual preference,” said Councilman Michael Woo, who introduced the bans on travel and contracts. “We’re putting our money where our mouth is.”

The financial effect of the measures, however, was unclear and officials acknowledged that Colorado was not a frequent travel destination for city employees.

As for contracts, about 40 Colorado-based companies currently do business with the city. But the measure would apply only to future contracts that do not require competitive bids, that is, agreements for professional services and other contracts less than $25,000.

Supporters nonetheless argued that Colorado will feel the effect when the council’s action is combined with the growing number of communities and companies endorsing the economic boycott.

“It’s a powerful symbolic measure, which is critical,” said Councilman Joel Wachs. “But it is more than just symbolic. Moving the Conference of Mayors to Los Angeles would take about $1 million from Colorado and bring it here.”

The head of the group that put Amendment 2 on the ballot, Will Perkins of Colorado for Family Values, said in a telephone interview Wednesday that the council’s vote is nothing more than “blackmail.”

“Boycotts can adversely affect Colorado, I know that,” said Perkins, who owns a Chrysler dealership in Colorado Springs that has been the subject of a local boycott. “But the fact is that the people of Colorado don’t like blackmail.”

Although the boycotts must come back before the council for final approval, one immediate effect of the council’s vote is that City Librarian Elizabeth Martinez and about a dozen members of her staff will not attend the American Library Assn. mid-winter conference in Denver next month at the city’s expense.

Martinez, who sits on the association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee, had planned on attending but she withdrew her request from the Library Commission’s agenda Wednesday.

In Colorado, officials are scrambling to keep the boycott from spreading. The Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau has placed an advertisement in trade publications that says, “Denver is getting a black eye.” Denver Mayor Wellington Webb toured New York City this month in an unsuccessful attempt to stop that city from joining the travel boycott.

Colorado Springs Mayor Robert Isaac is among those on the executive committee of the mayors’ group who will vote on moving the conference from his city. His spokesman, Terry McCann, said Wednesday: “People are portraying us as ogres and we’re not. Not everyone in this state voted for Amendment 2.”