Gays blast Interior nominee

Former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton angered many with her defense of a controversial anti-homosexual measure.

By Daryl Lindsey

Jan 3, 2001 | The 1992 fight over Colorado's Amendment 2 was one of the most divisive battles in the fight for gay rights. And once the measure -- which prohibited laws that extended civil rights to homosexuals -- was approved by Colorado voters, state Attorney General Gale Norton became the chief defender of the measure in the courts. Now Norton's nomination to become interior secretary by President-elect George W. Bush has enraged state and national gay rights activists, who remember Norton's role in the fight.

"She was a vigorous advocate for Amendment 2, and she was very disappointed when the Supreme Court overturned it," says David Smith, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign. "At the state court level, at least, she was leading the charge to defend Amendment 2."

Amendment 2 passed with 53 percent of the vote in 1992, but was eventually overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. "It is not within our constitutional tradition to enact laws of this sort," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. "A state cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws."

After the Supreme Court ruled, Norton said she believed the repeal of the law would disenfranchise voters and "mocks the democratic process." "I see this decision as increasing the cynicism of voters. I see this decision as increasing the view that the average voter doesn't have any impact on the system," she said after the May 1996 ruling.

People who followed the Amendment 2 legal rift closely say that Norton was careful not to make public comments that might reveal a personal bias. However, critics note that Norton vociferously defended Measure 2 after its passage, even though her boss, Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, had served as an honorary chairman in the campaign against it. (Romer, who as governor was bound to support the ballot measures approved by his constituents, would later defend the measure in court. But he cheered the Supreme Court's final decision, saying it was the "right answer" and that he would "do everything I can to get Colorado to accept that answer.")

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