Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 11:33:37 -0400 From: Maggie Heineman Subject: More Religious Right Reaction to Amend. The following is Focus on the Family's reaction to the Supreme Court decision ruling Colorado's Amendment 2 unconstitutional. It is taken from excerpts of the Family News in Focus radio program. (posted by Brian Gocial, People For the American Way, bgocial@pfaw.org) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Family News in Focus May 21, 1996 --Supreme Court strikes down Colorado's Amendment 2. "It's a sad day for America when a court says that people are not in a position to vote their conscience," said Will Perkins of CO for Family Values. "It goes a long way in giving their sexual perversion constitutionally, legally protected status." Jordan Lorence: "The laws that are going to have a problem now are the laws that single out homosexuals and say they can't be in the military, they can't adopt children, things like that." Steve McFarland of the Christian Legal Society says, "there is no danger in this ruling that churches are going to have to hire homosexuals as youth ministers," but Jordan Lorence says that's little consolation. Lorence: "I just shudder to see how this is going to be used. The homosexuals have just been handed a huge victory." He predicts homosexual activists will continually cite this ruling in their campaign to legitimize their behavior. --Aftermath of Amendment 2 in Colorado. Tom McMillan of the Rocky Mountain Family Council says, "My primary concern now is for the people of Colorado who continue to have their will thwarted by both elected officials and by unelected judges." Will Perkins says his group will not give up trying to stop homosexuals special rights. Gary Bauer reaction: "This is a terrible decision and it's much larger than just a terrible decision on gay rights. It calls into question whether we are a self-governing people. The Court.... has struck down a vote of the majority of the people of the state of Colorado." On the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision, Bauer said, "you may remember that some of these nominees were called stealth nominees. Justice Souter, Justice O'Connor. The idea was that they were secretly much more conservative than anybody thought but they were being nominated so they could get through the Senate more easily. It ends up they were stealth nominees but the stealth was in the other direction. These two justices have become now predictable liberals on every issue related to values or social issues...." Family News in Focus May 22, 1996 Monday's Supreme Court decision on Amendment 2 will soon be the subject of Congressional hearings. Rep. Charles Canady says his subcommittee will ask legal scholars how the decision will impact relationship between the states and the federal government. Canady: "One of the things that concerns me most about this decision is that it's an intrusion into the ability of the states to order their own affairs." Canady hopes some of those legal scholars will offer suggestions about what Congress can do to counter the decision. He adds the ruling will not slow down efforts to pass the Defense of Marriage Act.