Gays Applaud Ruling on Colorado Initiative

Leaders of the county’s gay and lesbian community on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling earlier in the week striking down an anti-gay Colorado initiative.

The initiative, passed by Colorado voters in 1992, would have allowed employers and landlords to exclude gays. Supreme Court justices ruled that the initiative violates the U.S. Constitution’s clause that guarantees all persons “equal protection of the laws.”

“The point [of the initiative] was to make it so risky that we would be driven back into the closet,” Bob Hodges, a member of the Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club, said during a press conference at the Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach. “The opinion is very exciting. It allows us to become active again.”

Pam Woody, co-president of Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said she was elated by the court’s ruling.

“As a parent of a gay son, it’s real scary for me to think that people could pass laws against your child just because of his sexual orientation,” she said. “I simply want my gay child to be afforded the same protection and opportunities as my non-gay child. The fact that the Supreme Court said that it’s not OK to discriminate gives hope.”

Bill LaPointe, publisher of Orange County Blade magazine, said the ruling “is validation that our struggle is for equal rights, not special rights. We have a long way to go, however.”

The press conference, organized by Irvine businessman Mitchell Goldstone, purposely was held in the same hotel where Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition, was addressing the Republican Party of Orange County’s Silver Circle. Goldstone said he asked to speak with Reed but was denied.

Samuel Behrens, president of Christian Gays and Lesbians for Justice, said the group’s message for the Christian Coalition is “love thy neighbor as yourself.”