Court Rejects Gay-Rights Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C.: In a major ruling, the Supreme Court struck down a Colorado constitutional amendment that bans laws protecting homosexuals from discrimination. The 6-3 ruling Monday is the biggest legal victory to date for gay-rights activists, and signals a major shift by the court since its last major gay-rights ruling. In 1986, the Court was blatantly contemptuous of a constitutional challenge to Georgia's sodomy law. "This is a huge decision," TIME correspondent Wendy Cole reports, adding that gay-rights groups had been braced for a defeat. "It will be very interesting to see how local municipalities that have anti-gay laws pending will deal with the ruling. Will they quietly withdraw them or step up opposition to gay rights." The Court rejected Colorado's argument that anti- discrimination laws give homosexuals special rights, saying it gave them "protections taken for granted by most people either because they already have them or do not need them." The Colorado amendment was approved in 1992 by 53.4 percent of the state's voters, but a state court blocked the law from being enforced. The law would have nullified gay-rights ordinances in Denver, Boulder and Aspen and barred any other state or local government from enacting similar laws.

While today's decision would appear to put an end to anti-gay ordinances, Cole says conservative groups will probably look for ways to circumvent the ruling. "I wouldn't be surprised if right-wing groups try to find a different way to attack homosexuals," Cole says. "This will not signal an end to legislative and ballot initiatives attacking the civil rights of gays and lesbians. They will try and craft the laws to use different language than the court struck down." The ruling comes at a critical moment when a constitutional battle over another aspect of gay rights -->