Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 16:50:40 -0400
From: PRCenter@aol.com
Subject: Gay & Lesbian Ctr Issues Statement on Supreme Court Hearings

L.A. GAY & LESBIAN CENTER ISSUES STATEMENT
REGARDING U.S. SUPREME COURT HEARING ON
COLORADO'S AMENDMENT 2

     LOS ANGELES, Oct. 9, 1995 -- The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community
Services Center today joined with organizations and individuals across the
country in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the politics of division
and exclusion and sustain the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to overturn
Amendment 2, that state's 1992 anti-gay ballot measure.
     The U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments in the case,
Romer v. Evans, on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 1995.
     The following is a statement issued by Sky Johnson, Director of Public
Policy at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center:
     "Amendment 2 is a political straitjacket, fabricated by the radical
right to deny the
rights of citizenship and the equal protections of the Constitution to gay
and lesbian
Americans.  From Maine to Oregon, we have already seen the kinds of hatred
and violence that are inspired by the mere introduction of this sort of
initiative.  But more obnoxious still, Amendment 2 stands for the
insupportable proposition that American citizens, any American citizens, can
be denied access to the political process and consigned to second-class
status depending solely upon how popular they are in any given jurisdiction,
at any given moment."
     "The U.S. Supreme Court will have the opportunity beginning tomorrow to
reject this
decidedly un-American notion.  It should do so loudly and forcefully, and in
the process put an end, once and for all, to this particular brand of assault
on our national values and
ideals."
     The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center is the world's
oldest and largest gay and lesbian non-profit organization, a leading
HIV/AIDS care provider and equal rights advocate, and home to an array of
free or low cost health, educational, cultural and social programs serving
more than 12,000 ethnically diverse youth and adults each month.