Equality Project Colorado, Parents

A husband and wife sit on their couch and the husband says, "They call themselves Colorado for Family Values. The put Amendment 2 on the ballot to force their definition of family values on everyone else."

The wife adds, "Amendment 2 says if your values are 'okay,' you get equal rights. If they aren't, you don't. That's a problem for our family, because our son is gay."

The dad closes, "Let's leave 'family values' up to families."

This ad is part of the battle defending the civil rights of Colorado gays from the religious right's Amendment 2. Aired in 1992, these commercials were the first time many people had learned about gays on TV.

Anti-gay ads from the opposition utilized video footage from the infamous "Gay Agenda" movie created by the religious right. The tape "censors" sections of scantily-clad men on gay pride parade floats and interviews several "experts" who produce demonizing misinformation about the gay community.

Despite existing municipal protection laws in Denver, Aspen and Boulder, an 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.