"Cincinnati has to play by the same constitutional rules as Colorado. Issue 3 is cut from the same despicable cloth as Colorado's Amendment 2," said Patricia M. Logue, managing attorney for Lambda's Midwest Regional Office in Chicago. "The panel decision cannot be reconciled with the Supreme Court's decision striking down Amendment 2, and we believe the full court will see that."

Just as Amendment 2 sought to do throughout Colorado, Issue 3 would bar Cincinnati legislators from ever passing legislation to prohibit discrimination against lesbians and gay men. Last year, the United States Supreme Court struck down Amendment 2, ruling in Romer v. Evans that it violated the United States Constitution's equal protection requirements by singling out lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals for discriminatory treatment.

However, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled October 23 that, since Issue 3 was a citywide measure, the Supreme Court's ruling on a state measure did not apply, even though the text of each amendment is virtually identical.

"Cities, just like states, must follow the Constitution, "said Suzanne B. Goldberg, a New York-based Lambda staff attorney who worked with Logue on the appeal. "The panel decision upholding Issue 3 conflicts squarely with the Supreme Court's decision in Romer," she said. "Just like Amendment 2, Issue 3 deprives only gay citizens of the right to seek protection from harm."

Lambda Legal Director Beatrice Dohrn added, "Issue 3 is a carbon copy of Amendment 2, and thus every bit as unconstitutional. The Sixth Circuit panel splits insignificant hairs in an effort to avoid the Supreme Court in Romer. Issue 3, like Amendment 2, is unconstitutional." Lambda and the ACLU were co-counsel in the challenge to the Colorado amendment.

Calling the panel's decision "out of step with legal and social realities throughout the country," Dohrn said, "Every single anti-gay voter initiative of recent years has been rejected by courts or voters across the country -- from Maine to Florida to Oregon and Idaho."

Issue 3, an amendment to Cincinnati's charter, was struck down by the federal district court shortly after being passed by city voters in November 1993. The Sixth Circuit, in a 1995 ruling, reversed the lower court opinion -- but the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the appeals court to reconsider the case, Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati v. City of Cincinnati, in light of the high court's ruling in the Colorado case.

Logue and Goldberg are Lambda's attorneys on behalf of Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, with co-counsel, Alphonse A. Gerhardstein, a Cincinnati civil rights attorney, Scott Greenwood of the ACLU of Ohio, and Ohio attorney Richard Cordray.

Lambda, the oldest and largest lesbian and gay legal organization, celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in 1998. With its national headquarters in New York, Lambda has regional offices in Atlanta and Los Angeles as well as Chicago.

(Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati v. City of Cincinnati, Case Nos. 94-3855/3973/4280)