For gays, it's Round 2

After Amendment 2, groups taking same-sex marriage fight to ballot

Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 13, 2006 at midnight

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The passage of Amendment 2 - the 1992 measure that banned anti-discrimination laws for homosexuals - shocked Colorado gays and lesbians, and then propelled them into politics as never before.

It also galvanized their opponents, and proved to the be the first battle of a Colorado political war that continues through dueling ballot initiatives to this day.

The lesson learned, leading gay activists say, was both bitter and profoundly instructive: Fight or be trounced.

Ted Trimpa, a tobacco lobbyist at the time, decided to come out of the closet and dove into political activism in support of gay rights. Today, as an adviser to gay philanthropist Tim Gill, Trimpa is a powerful Denver political operative.

Joe Barrows, a Denver financial adviser, also openly declared that he was gay for the first time in 45 years and raised money for the campaign to overturn the amendment. Today, he's helping to raise $10 million for the state effort to attain domestic partnership benefits.

Jeff Basinger, a western Colorado native, left retail business after Amendment 2 and now dedicates his time to political work and serving HIV patients.

"I was hardly paying attention for the first 39 years of my life," said Basinger, 52, of Grand Junction. "Amendment 2 was such a wake-up call that I have not gone to sleep since."

Amendment 2 - a state constitutional amendment that was passed by voters but never took effect - created a more powerful, sophisticated network of gay and lesbian organizations that are gearing up for the next major battle.

The November election may feature several ballot measures relating to legal recognition of same-sex couples.

Gay community leaders, who talk about Amendment 2 as if it happened yesterday, are planning a rally at the state Capitol next Saturday to mark the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring the measure unconstitutional.

The gay community has developed a higher level of "political maturity," said Pat Steadman, who began his legal career fighting Amendment 2 and now works as a state lobbyist. People learned that "if we're not in the political arena, we're going to get bulldozed."

Gays, conservatives savvier now

Conservative religious groups also learned from the four-year court fight that polarized the state, caused a spike in anti-homosexual violence, and spurred a national boycott of Colorado products and tourism by gay organizations and their supporters.

Colorado for Family Values, which sponsored the amendment, has shrunk in size and prominence and lost its gregarious spokesman, Will Perkins. But other groups that supported the measure, including Focus on the Family, have seen meteoric growth in influence and funding.

And Perkins, the former car dealer from Colorado Springs and Amendment 2 spokesman, has resurfaced as a sponsor of a new initiative, aimed at the November ballot, to deny legal recognition of civil unions or domestic partnerships.

"The gay and lesbian community is much more organized and much more integrated into the fabric of society," said Eric Sondermann, a local political analyst. "The religious community certainly has grown as well. The Republican plurality in Colorado is greater than it was 14 years ago. "The political landscape has changed, but it has not changed just in one direction."

Sondermann predicts a tough battle in the next six months.

"The core issues are whether marriage is an institution unique to heterosexuals," he said. "Secondly, even if you believe that, whether gays and lesbians should have many, if not all, the legal standing and legal rights that accompany marriage."

Leaders in the gay community say voters don't want to discriminate against homosexuals and support giving same-sex couples rights afforded to married couples. They say the presence of Perkins in the current campaign has energized supporters.

The new Perkins-backed measure "really has ripped a scab off a wound," said Sean Duffy, communications director for the pro-gay group Coloradans for Fairness and Equality.

"Every call I'm on is, 'What are we doing about this new Amendment 2?' " Duffy said. "It has surprisingly become a very big part of what we're working on, and we're perfectly happy with that."

'We will not send this message'

State Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, sponsor of the ballot measure to prohibit domestic partnerships, said he asked Perkins to join the fight to "tell people that we are serious."

"I recognize that he was and is a lightning rod on this general subject," said Lundberg, who favored Amendment 2. "I was looking for somebody who was willing to take the heat."

Lundberg and other social conservative leaders say gays are trying to erase the tradition of marriage and family.

"This is not just a small incremental change. This is a major watershed," Lund-berg said. "There's too much at stake. I'm not going to sit by idly and watch such extreme changes being foisted on the culture.

"I believe the people of Colorado need that opportunity to say, 'No, we will not send this message to future generations.' "

Kevin Tebedo, who runs a local roofing business and led Amendment 2 with Perkins, described the reversal of Amendment 2, through a court case known as Romer v. Evans, as having a "chilling effect."

Several days after voters passed Amendment 2, gay-rights groups challenged the measure in a court case named after then-governor Roy Romer and a gay state employee, Richard Evans. Evans was one of the plaintiffs in the challenge.

"In 1990-91, it was about gays being given special protective status. Now, we're talking about gay marriage and adoption rights," he said. "Ten years later, Romer v. Evans has been to the homosexual political lobby what Roe v. Wade was to pro-abortion . . . it opened the floodgates for the homosexual political agenda."

Added Perkins: "Everything we talked about came true. We're seeing the pro-homosexual agenda being carried out, step-by-step, just as we had predicted it would."

Meanwhile, Romer, now superintendent of Los Angeles schools, said he had to defend Amendment 2 in his capacity as the state's chief executive, though he thought it was discriminatory. He called the defeat of Amendment 2 an important moment in Colorado history.

Romer will return to Colorado to speak at the 10th anniversary rally. Gay rights is an "issue that's still unresolved," he said. "Sexual diversity is very difficult for us as a culture."

Gay political power unleashed

When Amendment 2 was introduced, the gay community was still reeling from the HIV epidemic and was ill-prepared for a heated political battle.

That November, 53 percent of voters chose to approve the measure.

It crushed the gay community.

"I don't know a single gay person who did not take that defeat personally," said Phil Nash, 55, of Denver, an executive in the nonprofit community who helped form the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of Colorado in the mid-1970s. "It did feel like a rejection of your humanity."

Leona Lawrence, 53, a real estate agent from Golden, remembers crying uncontrollably while showing homes to a couple the day after the election. That day, she came out of the closet.

Since then, Lawrence and her partner of 27 years, Cheryl Siefert, have dedicated much of their time to grass-roots political work with the gay caucus of the Jefferson County Democratic Party.

"It was clear to me that I was on the wrong path, that I needed to be on the political path to protect my rights," she said.

Barrows took down the Colorado flag hanging outside his Cheesman Park home when Amendment 2 passed. He put it back up after the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

"We were awfully naive in '92," he said.

He said the current battle is expected to cost $10 million, more than 13 times the $750,000 the pro-gay camp spent fighting Amendment 2.

The Amendment 2 campaign also unleashed a sleeping giant - today one of the most prominent gay activists in the country - Tim Gill.

He gave $40,000 to that fight, and in 1994 the wealthy software company founder created the Gill Foundation, which has given more than $81 million to support gay rights causes. More recently, he created Gill Action, which gives money to candidate campaigns.

Gill's political action committee, headed by Trimpa, targeted anti-gay lawmakers and is credited, in part, for wresting control of the state legislature out of Republican hands.

"There's a reason we went from 37 Republicans to 30 Republicans, because that political machinery kicked in gear and took on several of my colleagues," Lundberg said.

"If I were a careful politician just trying to preserve my political skin, this is not an issue to take on," he said. "I kind of feel I'm David up against Goliath."

Trimpa called Lundberg's characterization "preposterous."

"I respect Kevin Lundberg. However, Kevin is ignoring reality," Trimpa said. "Gay people have always existed and will continue to exist . . . using the power of government to try to stop us from being who we are is not American."

Culture is different than in 1992

The political influence of gays has been bolstered by increasing cultural tolerance and by their increasing prominence in government and business.

Since Amendment 2, a growing number of corporations and universities have begun offering health and other benefits to partners of employees.

Gay couples also have been adopting children and gaining certain legal recognition as parents. In 2005, the state legislature passed a law that adds sexual orientation to the hate crimes statute. Federal laws provide no protection for gays.

There also have been defeats.

In 2000, the state legislature passed a law defining marriage as a heterosexual union. Constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have passed in all of the nearly 20 states where the measure was put to voters. Coloradans could vote on such a measure in November.

Last year, Gov. Bill Owens vetoed a bill passed by the state legislators that would have allowed gays to sue for workplace discrimination. He is expected to veto a similar bill passed this session.

Trimpa still has his "No on Amendment 2" buttons. He said the political mobilization of people was unavoidable.

"You can only take an a--kicking so many times," he said.

He is frustrated that the gay community must use so many resources fighting the ballot measures. "We have no choice."

The language

It remains to this day in the Colorado Bill of Rights (Article II, Section 30b) with a footnote describing the U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring the measure unconstitutional:

"Neither the State of Colorado, through any of its branches or departments, nor any of its agencies, political subdivisions, municipalities or school districts, shall enact, adopt or enforce any statute, regulation, ordinance or policy whereby homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships shall constitute or otherwise be the basis of or entitle any person or class of persons to have or claim any minority status, quota preferences, protected status or claim of discrimination."

Since the death of Amendment 2, cities in Colorado, including Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, have resisted efforts to give homosexuals legal protections. Denver, Boulder, Aspen, Telluride and Crested Butte have ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Other changes

• The Colorado legislature passed a bill in 2005, which became law without the governor's signature, that added sexual orientation to the hate crimes law.

• The legislature passed a bill in 2000, signed by Gov. Bill Owens, that prohibits same-sex couples from marrying. A proposed ballot initiative this year could add such language to the state constitution.

• In 1998, President Clinton signed an executive order that prohibits discrimination against federal employees based on sexual orientation, but it does not give workers the right to sue. Federal civil rights, hate crimes and employment laws do not give gays protections.

Kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2361.

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