Colorado Amendment 2, No Protected Status for Sexual Orientation Initiative (1992)
| Colorado Amendment 2 | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic LGBTQ issues |
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| Status |
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| Type Initiated constitutional amendment |
Origin |
Colorado Amendment 2 was on the ballot as an initiated constitutional amendment in Colorado on November 3, 1992. Voters approved Amendment 2, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled violated the U.S. Constitution in 1996.
A “yes” vote supported providing that laws or regulations giving protected status to "homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships" are unenforceable and violate the Colorado Constitution. |
A “no” vote opposed providing that laws or regulations giving protected status to "homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships" are unenforceable and violate the Colorado Constitution. |
Aftermath
Romer v. Evans
On May 20, 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Amendment 2 violated the Equal Protection Clause. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority's opinion, which said, "Amendment 2 fails, indeed defies, even this conventional inquiry. First, the amendment has the peculiar property of imposing a broad and undifferentiated disability on a single named group, an exceptional and, as we shall explain, invalid form of legislation. Second, its sheer breadth is so discontinuous with the reasons offered for it that the amendment seems inexplicable by anything but animus toward the class it affects; it lacks a rational relationship to legitimate state interests."[1]
Election results
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Colorado Amendment 2 |
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| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
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813,966 | 53.41% | ||
| No | 710,151 | 46.59% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Amendment 2 was as follows:
| “ | An amendment to Article II of the Colorado Constitution to prohibit the state of Colorado and any of its political subdivisions from adopting or enforcing any law or policy which provides that homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual orientation, conduct, or relationships constitutes or entitles a person to claim any minority or protected status, quota preferences, or discrimination. | ” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article II, Colorado Constitution
The ballot measure amended Section 30b of Article II of the Colorado Constitution. The following underlined text was added:[2]
| Neither the State of Colorado, through any of its branches or departments, nor any of its agencies, political subdivisions, municipalities or school districts, shall enact, adopt or enforce any statute, regulation, ordinance or policy whereby homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships shall constitute or otherwise be the basis of or entitle any person or class of persons to have or claim any minority status, quota preferences, protected status or claim of discrimination. This Section of the Constitution shall be in all respects self executing.[3] |
Path to the ballot
In Colorado, proponents needed to collect a number of signatures for an initiated constitutional amendment.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ U.S. Supreme Court, "Romer v. Evans," accessed May 20, 1996
- ↑ U.S. Supreme Court, "Evans v. Romer," October 11, 1994
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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