Equal Protections for All : State’s own high court says Colorado can’t restrict gay rights

Announced, ironically, on the same day as President Clinton’s pragmatic but unsatisfying compromise on gays in the military, a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court stands in affirmation of the full rights that gay Americans should enjoy. The ruling, handed down Monday, is likely to nullify that state’s narrow-minded amendment that restricts gay rights.

“Fundamental rights may not be submitted to a vote,” the court wrote, upholding a lower court injunction on the measure, known as Amendment 2. That measure, passed by Colorado voters last November, would have rescinded local and state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It also would have amended the state constitution to bar any additional legal protections. As such, Amendment 2 constituted an open and shameful invitation to deny rights to gay men and lesbians.

For that reason, the Colorado Supreme Court correctly said that the initiative, “to a reasonable probability,” violates the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which prohibits states from denying equal protection under the laws to anyone. Voting 6 to 1, the court held that “no other group’s ability to participate in the political process is restricted and encumbered in a like manner. Such a structuring of the political process is contrary to the notion that the concept of ‘We The People’ visualizes.”

While an actual ruling on the amendment’s constitutionality will come when a civil lawsuit goes to trial in October, as a practical matter Amendment 2 has sustained what is probably a fatal blow.

We sincerely hope so.