White House Avoids Anti-Gay Court Fight

The Clinton administration declined Thursday to join the legal attack on a Colorado anti-gay measure that could produce the most significant Supreme Court ruling on gay rights in a decade. Gay and civil rights groups suggested calculations about the 1996 election affected the decision.

Attorney General Janet Reno told her weekly news conference she had decided not to file a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court opposing Colorado’s ban on laws and policies designed to protect homosexuals from discrimination in the state.

“This was a matter in which we were not a party,” she said. “We were not asked by the court to participate. There was no federal program or federal statute involved. We determined that we would not participate for those reasons.”

Later, department spokesman Gregory King added, “The department believes the issues were being fully briefed for the court by parties in the case.”

The Colorado constitutional amendment would cancel and ban state and local laws, regulations and policies protecting homosexuals from bias in employment, housing and public accommodations. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional by denying homosexuals an equal voice in government.