Anti-gay threats and slurs are hardly new–in Denver or anywhere else. But in Colorado the voices of hate have taken on a new edge. On Nov. 3, state voters approved–by a margin of 53 to 47 percent–a measure designed to strip away legal protections for gays. The amendment to the state constitution bars local governments from prohibiting discrimination in jobs and housing based on sexual orientation. The measure also repealed existing gay-rights ordinances in Aspen, Boulder and Denver. Many activists see the vote as tacitly sanctioning gay-bashing. Ironically, the setback to gay rights came the same day that voters in Oregon rejected a far more publicized ordinance that would have compelled cities to “discourage” homosexuality.
The Colorado vote stunned pollsters and gay activists, whose surveys had predicted that the measure would fail. But with all eyes on the presidential election, the amendment’s supporters targeted an aggressive media campaign at Colorado’s outnumbered–but politically active–conservative voters. Particularly effective were TV ads produced by a far-right group called Colorado for Family Values that cast the amendment as a referendum on affording homosexuals “Special rights.” The strategy may be repeated. “Colorado is a test case,” says Robert Bray of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “The ultraconservative right … intends to export Colorado-style initiatives around the country.”
If Colorado is any example, such initiatives could trigger ugly consequences. Last weekend windows were broken on cars outside gay bars. Thugs trashed a classroom at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, scribbling FAGGOTS GET OUT OF THE ARTS on a blackboard. Bomb threats were reported at The Tattered Cover–one of the largest bookstores in the country–and at the gay and lesbian community center, where the caller ranted about “fags.” (“I’m not a fag,” responded director Sue Anderson. “I’m a dyke.”) In all, 23 hate crimes have been reported since the election, and the local media fielded a stream of calls from gay workers claiming they were fired after the vote.
To many gay activists, the furious response seemed suspiciously well coordinated. One obscure lesbian bookstore was deluged with calls the morning after the election; many gay bars receiving crank calls were not widely known outside the gay community. But supporters of the amendment plead innocent to claims of harassment–or bigotry, for that matter. “Our objective has never been to discriminate,” says Will Perkins, head of Colorado for Family Values. “Our position is that sexual orientation is not an acceptable criterion for special rights.”
When word of the amendment’s victory filtered out, angry protesters pushed into Denver’s downtown Radisson Hotel and hijacked the Democratic Party’s victory celebration, seizing the stage until the police arrived. The next day 5,000 demonstrators held a candlelight vigil at the capitol. Some gay-rights leaders called for a national boycott of all things Coloradan. Ski-tour companies and state tourist officials reported a flurry of cancellations–not enough to shake the industry but enough for the chamber of commerce to notice. Two gay and lesbian associations scotched plans for conventions in Denver next year.
Some gays think such actions could prove counterproductive by hurting Denver, Boulder and other areas that are supportive of gay rights. Still, gay and lesbian activists throughout the country are already mobilizing for battle. Meeting in Los Angeles last week, they considered a boycott of Colorado’s billion-dollar tourist industry. Precedent suggests that it could be successful. Several years ago civil-rights activists successfully boycotted Arizona, which in 1987 had scrapped the state’s Martin Luther King holiday; the boycott cost the state millions in tourist revenues. Denver, Aspen and Boulder–allied with the American Civil Liberties Union–have filed suit in U.S. district court in Denver challenging the federal constitutionality of the anti-gay measure, known formally as Amendment 2. And now some activists are saying that the vote may ultimately help gays the way the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings boosted women: by getting them mad enough to fight.
The debate could quickly go national. Calling Amendment 2 “outrageous,” Rep. Pat Schroeder asked Bill Clinton to back a federal gay-civil-rights bill. But perhaps the most wrenching example of how bruising the fight could get occurred in Colorado Springs. A day after the vote, a gay man dying of AIDS wrote a note saying, “I refuse to live in a state where a few people can, at will, make my life a living hell.” Then he killed himself.
