Colorado for Family Values, Same as Black

Addressing the camera, Cynthia Cordle, a health care administrator and black woman, says, "Some people say that homosexual behavior is the same as being black or Hispanic. This makes no sense to me. I'm voting yes on Amendment 2."

This commercial leverages the skepticism that many African-Americans have of a frequently stated parallel of the civil rights struggle for gays and blacks. It is sensitive to them because African-Americans, who cannot hide their skin color, often feel that their struggle then and now is much harder than that of gays, who can hide their gayness.

To try to compete on whose pain is "worse" is a divisive way of thinking and ignores the reality that many gays are also people of color.

Of course, Cordle uses standard right wing phraseology -- always using the term "homosexual" and calling gay existence "behavior." Most gays believe that being gay is an innate characteristic they were born with, not "behavior."

Despite existing municipal protection laws in Denver, Aspen and Boulder, the increasingly strong religious right-inspired a vote known as Amendment 2. That amendment to the Colorado State Constitution passed, surprising many, and was to prevent cities towns and counties from passing laws protecting gay and lesbian rights.

The amendment never went into effect, as it was immediately challenged in court by the case Romer vs. Evans. The case went all the way to the US Supreme Court and, in May 1996, the court knocked down Amendment 2 in a landmark 6-to-3 decision.