Latino Journalists Vote to Move Convention Out of Colorado

Latino journalists voted Saturday to move their annual convention from Colorado because of the state’s new ban on civil rights protections for homosexuals.

The National Assn. of Hispanic Journalists board voted, 13 to 3, to cancel its Denver convention, scheduled for March, making it the latest to join a national boycott of Colorado to protest the Nov. 3 passage of Amendment 2. The board also said it would not return to Colorado until the law was repealed or nullified.

“I hope some will respect our decision because of how emotional and difficult it was,” said Diane Alverio, president of the 1,400-member NAHJ. Alverio works at WFSB-TV in Hartford, Conn.

Ernest Gurule, the group’s vice president and a reporter for KWGN-TV in Denver, voted against the move. “My position as a journalist is you fight hate with knowledge,” Gurule said.

NAHJ’s plans to hold the conference in Colorado set off a dispute with the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Assn., which voted last week to boycott the event unless the convention was moved.

The gay journalists’ association issued a statement Saturday praising the action, and vowed to help NAHJ with the move and to recover any losses.

“We understand the difficulty and we are gratified by this decision,” said Leroy Aarons, president of the gay journalists’ group. “We think it’s a victory for a free press and for minority journalists everywhere.”

Colorado’s Amendment 2 bars the passage of any law that would provide specific civil rights protections based on sexual orientation. It annuls ordinances passed in Aspen, Boulder and Denver that extended such protections.

Among the groups that have canceled conventions to honor the boycott are the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the American Assn. of Law Libraries and the National Organization for Women.

Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle and Boston have prohibited official travel to Colorado and the spending of public funds in the state. So far, Denver has lost an estimated $15 million in convention business.

NAHJ had said it would have to forfeit $70,000 under its contract with a Denver hotel if it moved the three-day convention. The new location of the convention was not immediately disclosed.