Summary

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 274517
Story Slug SCOTUS / Anti-Gay (1995)
Location WASHINGTON, DC
Format TVD
Date 10/09/1995
Archive Time 22:39
TRT 4:50
Supers John Miller / Plaintiff Mandy Carter / National Black, Gays & Leadership Committee
Video Description Protest, demonstrators, protesters chanting, sots, exterior Supreme Court building, no people in picture, protesters, CU candle burning, two men watching, hugging
Script (SUGGESTED TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO) 00:34 If it's upheld by the Supreme Court, I believe it'll just be an example of one of many cases that'll come forth to The Supreme Court over the period of the next 1020 years, which will establish rights for gays and lesbians We don't see this as being the only case that will become for the Supreme Court to establish gay and lesbian rights, but one of many that will come And how did you become a plaintiff in this case? I actually was active in attempting to organize the gay and lesbian community in Colorado Springs to add sexual orientation to the local human relations ordinance, an ordinance that failed and actually was dissolved by the city council two weeks ago 01:15 Do you expect that the Supreme Court will uphold the amendment? Or 01:19 I hate to project what the Supreme Court will do I think they will discover that the law is so outrageous that if this were any other group in society, they would automatically hope to throw it out And I would hope that they would see us in the same 01:32 way, if it is a help at the Supreme Court, what is your next plan of action? 01:36 Well, actually, as a community, we were already talking about various alternatives and actions, and we've talked about a number of things arranged for everything from ballot initiatives to a maybe 01:50 an attempt to 01:53 make people more sensitive to the state of Colorado and to support groups that are gay and lesbian friendly within the support of Colorado Have you had a lot of support nationally? Yes, we've received a lot of support nationally, particularly the ACLU, lambda, legal and a number of other individuals and organizations have been quite good 02:10 And what is the actual purpose tonight? The 02:13 purposes tonight is to make the nation aware, and this is occurring in about 18 states that I know of at this point in time, of the importance of this case and its significance in gay and lesbian history So I think that one of the things we're finding out at the Supreme Court is that one of the key arguments is made, once again, you can't put a people's rights up for popular vote But also, this is the same Supreme Court that we saw rule on the cases of race, and when you look at the fact that people of color in this country had to fight and struggle for equal protection under the law, what's so different when you're talking about sexual orientation, it's the same case being made, and we point to equal justice under the law, they should uphold it and do the right thing Now arguments are for tomorrow We might not hear about it until January or June of next year Now, 03:01 assuming that the Supreme Court does rule in the favor of the gay community What that means? 03:04 It's a major, major decision, because what that means is that the radical right can no longer use these anti gay ballot initiatives the way they have been using on the city, county and state level to come after us and try to take away basic protection This is probably one of the most Important decisions for our community I too 03:42 People, equal justice under law, equal justice under law, equal justice under law, equal justice under law, equal justice under law, equal justice under law, equal justice under law, equal justice under law is that 03:59 they underestimated the common decency of the American people in this country What 04:17 are the tactics they use? Is that you can't compare being gay to the beautiful characteristics, my skin color and get there
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Keywords

Supreme Court of the United States
homosexual
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