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- Path: sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!ames!pacbell.com!rjwill6
- From: rjwill6@pbsdts.sdcrc.pacbell.com (Rod Williams)
- Subject: Concord (Calif.) Measure M Overturned
- Message-ID: <1992Nov18.185129.21036@PacBell.COM>
- Originator: rjwill6@pbsdts.sdcrc.pacbell.com
- Sender: news@PacBell.COM (Pacific Bell Netnews)
- Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, California
- Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 18:51:29 GMT
- Lines: 101
-
- Here's the San Francisco Examiner (front-page, banner
- headline) report (11/17/92) on the overturn of Concord's
- anti-gay Measure M.
-
- -----------------------------------------------
-
- CONCORD ANTI-GAY LAW ILLEGAL
- Judge Strikes Down Initiative that Tried
- to Repeal Law Forbidding Discrimination
-
- By Charles C. Hardy
- of the Examiner Staff
-
- A Contra Costa County Superior Court judge declared
- unconstitutional Monday a controversial anti-gay initiative
- that was narrowly passed by Concord voters in 1991.
-
- Measure M, spearheaded by a group of religious conservatives
- including Concord Councilman Lloyd Mashore, was intended to
- repeal the portion of the city's human rights law that
- prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation.
-
- It also would have barred the City Council from passing
- another law banning such discrimination, and forbade city
- money from being spent to promote or encourage homosexuality
- or bisexuality.
-
- Because of an immediate court challenge, the measure never
- took effect. Monday, Judge Ellen James ruled that it never
- would.
-
- James said each of the three sections of the measure violated
- equal protection clauses under the U.S. Constitution by
- singling out gay people for unfair treatment.
-
- Further, the judge said the part of the law that tried to
- limit the council's powers violated state law; and that its
- ban on using resources violated the federal Constitution and
- First Amendment rights.
-
- Attorneys who fought to have the measure overturned hailed
- James's decision as a victory for individual freedom and
- defeat of right-wing fundamentalist attempts to use the ballot
- for gay-bashing.
-
- "Initiatives like this are the latest fad of the new right,"
- said Matthew Coles, a lawyer with Morrison and Foerster, which
- joined the American Civil Liberties Union to fight the measure.
- "One or two more victories showing that the courts will not
- tolerate this and we may be able to stop this initiative
- madness."
-
- Coles said a similar measure had been overturned by the courts
- after voters approved it in Riverside last year. Colorado
- voters adopted a similar measure earlier this month, and it is
- already being challenged in the courts.
-
- Mark Zapalik, chairman of Concord United for Fair Law, which
- backed the measure, said, "We're disappointed that she took
- that action."
-
- He said his group would probably appeal the ruling, if the
- Concord City Council did not.
-
- An appeal by the council is unlikely, as Mashore was the only
- one of the five members who supported the measure.
-
- Measure M is not discriminatory, Zapalik contended.
-
- "We feel that we are all equal and equally protected under the
- Constitution," he said. "We don't feel that sexual behavior
- deserves a minority status for the purposes of affirmative
- action in civil suits with landlords and employers. What you
- do in the privacy of your bedroom is your business and should
- not be brought to bear in what you do with any employers or
- landlords."
-
- City Councilwoman Colleen Coll said two days before Measure M
- passed by just 42 votes, 10,000 inflammatory videotapes had
- been dropped on the doorsteps of voters in key precincts.
-
- Those tapes, she said, included "graphic scenes" from San
- Francisco's gay parade and were used to frighten people into
- voting for Measure M.
-
- "It was appalling and totally uncalled for," said Coll. She
- added that James's decision appeared to her to be sound.
-
- "I have a tremendous amount of respect for her," she said. "I
- believe she deliberated the issue very carefully and made the
- correct decision."
-
- Concord City Attorney Mike Martello said the city would
- announce next week whether it would appeal.
-
- --------------------------- end of article ------------------------
-
- --
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- rod williams -=- pacific bell -=- san ramon, ca -=- rjwill6@pacbell.com
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-