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Cincinnati Anti-Gay Measure Stands Court Test

Courtesy National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
WASHINGTON, DC---October 23, 1997

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the nation's oldest gay advocacy organization, today condemned the decision by a three judge panel of the U.S. 6th Court of Appeals who declared that Cincinnati voters have a right to enact legislation forbidding equal rights for gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

The decision today is identical to the panel's previous ruling on Cincinnati's anti-gay ballot measure, Issue 3. The U.S. Supreme Court had remanded the case to the 6th Circuit to reexamine the issue in light of the high court's ruling in Romer v. Evans which struck down on Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2.

"The 6th Circuit's decision is a slap in the face of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people in Cincinnati and across the nation," said Kerry Lobel, NGLTF executive director. "By refusing to follow the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Romer decision, this panel has let stand an unconstitutional, discriminatory and divisive provision."

In 1993, Cincinnati voters passed Issue 3, an anti-gay amendment to the City Charter which prohibited the city from enacting legislation banning discrimination against gay, lesbian and bisexual people. The cookie cutter measure was patterned after Colorado's Amendment 2, passed by voters in 1992 and declared unconstitutional in 1996.


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