What does this mean? Can we say that two political scientists out of three are against gay rights in Colorado? Only if you use Woodard's sampling methods. ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The Denver Post, October 19, 1993 Amend. 2 helpful, professor says Witness calls measure 'live-and-let-live' solution to gay rights By Howard Pankratz, Legal Affairs Writer When they approved Amendment 2, Coloradans adopted a beneficial "live-and-let-live" solution to the burning question of gay rights, a Harvard University professor said yesterday. Testifying in the fifth day of the Amendment 2 trial, Harvey Mansfield said adoption of the measure helped the state, its residents and even homosexuals. Mansfield, a professor of government, said Amendment 2 injected "moderation" into a tense situation and was a good example of a constitutional resolution in the best American tradition. Mansfield was called by the state in an attempt to discount claims by the state's gays that Amendment 2 has no purpose other than to deny them rights and subject them to hatred. "It represents a solution which permits a kind of 'live-and-let-live' policy and offers the least intrusion into lives and morals," Mansfield told Denver District Judge Jeff Bayless. "I think it improves the competition of ideas--it takes out the extremes and brings in the people in the middle." Mansfield said the extreme elements to which he referred included those who had won gay-rights and anti-discrimination laws in Denver, Boulder and Aspen, and maybe some of those who supported Amendment 2. The small group that sponsored Amendment 2 won because it was able to convince the moderate middle--including some liberals--to vote for the measure, said Mansfield. However, Greg Eurich, one of the lawyers representing the coalition that wants Bayless to declare Amendment 2 unconstitutional, sharply questioned Mansfield about his own bias. Mansfield amditted that, in 1989, he opposed a Harvard-sponsored week of programs devoted to helping people to be more sensitive to cultural and racial differences. He said he declared then that "what Harvard needs was less sensitivity and more racial jokes." 'A cheering section' "I spoke out because they wanted to lead a cheering section for people like themselves," Mansfield told Bayless. "It's gotten to the point where a professor hardly dares tell a joke in his class. You have to fear now it will be offensive." Mansfield also admitted he feels there is something wrong with gay behavior, that generally the gay lifestyle does not lead to happiness, that gays generally are not socially responsible and that homosexual sexual practices often can be regarded as "shameful." Another state witness strongly supporting Amendment 2 yesterday was Thomas Duran, supervisor of the Colorado Civil Rights Divisions regional offices. A dismal picture Duran, who has been in civil rights enforcement for 22 years, painted a dismal picture in which staffing for the agency has fallen 17.5 percent since 1981, but the caseload continues to escalate. He said those facts have hampered thorough investigations. Duran testified that he favors Amendment 2 on the basis of the workload and his own personal feelings that homosexuals shouldn't be added to the protected status now accorded racial minorities, religions and other groups. "Based on the failure of the state legislature to appropriate funds and resources...it doesn't make sense to include another class," said Duran. Duran also said that to add another class might injure those already given special status. Protected-class status currently is granted on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability and being a veteran. Earlier, David Woodard, a Clemson University political science professor, said gays and lesbians are a "politically powerful" group in the U.S. He said their intensity in the political arena is similar to that of women who started Mothers Against Drunk Driving. 'They are very intense' Victimized by the loss of their own children, the women worked very hard to make the small organization a powerful national movement, he said. Gays and lesbians exhibit the same zeal, he said. "They are very intense about their goals, very much like Mothers Against Drunk Driving," said Woodard. "I think they feel that their sexuality and the AIDS crisis...makes them intense about how they feel." The political scientist was called by the state to offset claims by homosexuals that they are politically powerless. Woodard, who estimated that homosexuals make up about 1 percent of the U.S. population of about 260 million--a figure well below the 10 percent total cited by some homosexual-rights groups and researchers--said that despite their small numbers they have received considerably more attention in the press since 1987 than either blacks or Hispanics. He said a computer check of the nation's leading newspaper showed thousands of articles have been written about gay and lesbian issues compared to hundreds for blacks and Hispanics. Such coverage, said Woodard, raises people's awareness of gays and lesbians. The political scientist said evidence of the "growing political power" of homosexuals is the fact that eight states, 119 cities and 65 universities have enacted laws to protect gays. Further, he said, marketing surveys indicate homosexual households mkae $26,271 more than the average American household, and that gays have more discretionary funds to funnel into political pursuits. Substantial money raised He also said the political power of homosexuals is reflected in the ability of gay-associated political action committees to raise substantial money. He said that the Human Rights Campaign Fund, which he described as the "most visible and active of homosexual PACs," was the 42nd most successful fund- raiser in the country and among the fastest growing. In 1992, he sad, the Human Rights Campaign Fund contributed between a few hundred dollars up to $10,000 to 190 candidates. Of these, he noted, 160 won. He said that in 28 close races, the fund's candidates won in 21 instances.