ADF: Colorado Legislature should reject sexual ‘non-discrimination’ bill
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4493
ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND NEWS RELEASE
May 1, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom
ADF: Colorado Legislature should reject
sexual ‘non-discrimination’ bill
Law would impact constitutional rights of all Coloradoans
DENVER — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys sent a legal memo to the Colorado Legislature Wednesday informing members of problems with a statewide non-discrimination bill currently under review. If passed, the bill would add “sexual orientation” and “transgender status” as protected categories in the state’s nondiscrimination laws.
“The government shouldn’t cater to the agenda of political activist groups and then use the strong arm of the law to force it on the public,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Austin R. Nimocks. “This law would not protect rights but would grant special privileges based strictly on someone’s sexual behavior. Further, those privileges would have a significant impact on the constitutional rights of Coloradoans who have a moral objection to homosexual behavior.”
Potential problems that could come as a result of the passage of Bill 08-200 include an impact on citizen’s privacy rights, which specifically protect individuals using restroom facilities and from having their bodies exposed to members of the opposite sex; legal concerns for business owners opposed to homosexual behavior; and a failure to provide an exemption for business owners who have a religious objection to homosexual behavior.
Other states which have passed similar laws have faced numerous lawsuits, including some filed by individuals claiming the right to use a restroom or other public space reserved for the opposite sex. Both federal and Colorado law already prohibits sex discrimination and sexual harassment.
“If Bill 08-200 becomes law, it will communicate to the citizens that the political agenda of a few is more important than the time-honored and cherished First Amendment principles upon which our country was founded and promised to everyone,” the ADF legal memo explains.
The full text of the ADF legal memo is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/ColoradoMemo.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.