Giving Thanks for a Great State
In the early 1990s, my firm decided to move our headquarters from New York City to Denver. Most of our employees were in their 20s and 30s as the company, Ziff-Davis, was the leading publisher in the field of computing, particularly in the new and exploding category of personal computers.
Then, Colorado passed Amendment 2, the nation’s first anti-gay legislation. The Amendment originated in Colorado Springs, the epicenter of western religious fundamentalism via Focus on the Family.
“In the early 1990s, religious fundamentalists in Colorado Springs launched an effort to add Amendment 2 to the Colorado State Constitution, making it illegal to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.” Colorado Springs Christian evangelical group Colorado for Family Values’ measure earned support from 53% of voters in the state in 1992, and the law became the only statewide ban on homosexual rights in the U.S. at that time. “
The response was immediate;
“Opponents organized boycotts of the city, Perkins’ car dealership, and the entire state. Groups such as the U.S. conference of mayors cancelled conventions, cities issued travel bans to Colorado for their public employees, movie stars lent their names in protest”
And our firm was one of the “businesses and nonprofits (which) changed plans to relocate to the state.”
Five years later, the Supreme Court struck down the Amendment:
“In the case of Romer v. Evans, the nation’s high court said the law was a blatant violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution:
Amendment 2 classified homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else," wrote then-Justice Anthony Kennedy for the majority.”
But the damage to Colorado’s reputation and its ability to attract talent was immediate and lasted more than a decade.
Colorado gained the moniker “the Hate State,” while Colorado Springs was called the city of hate and bigotry. Boycotts made this amendment the most expensive civil rights violation in U.S. history.
A quarter century later and this Supreme Court’s six conservatives are imposing their radical , revisionist ‘states rights’ perspective on the rest of the country. Dobbs is just the first step in their crusade to allow states to restrict long-standing civil rights for select populations.
America is being divided once again between hate states — and great states.
Unlike 25 (or 150) years ago hate, like climate change and guns and viruses, seeps fast across state boundaries. It’s spread particularly insidiously by social and mainstream ideological media. The weaponized targets are often young, isolated and untethered men.
So in the week for giving thanks, we’re reeling from the #CLUBQ shooting.
Yet this same month the citizens of Colorado overwhelmingly voted to protect and expand every individual’s basic human rights.
In 1992 when Amendment 2 was passed Colorado was controlled by Republicans at every level. Today, the GOP is the super-minority in the state legislature, all state officers are Dems, and Boebert was nearly booted in a very red district. And turns out that blue is better for business; Colorado’s incessant progress made the state a magnet for young talent, creating an innovation economy model for the world.
That competitive advantage is accelerating as states like Texas and Florida, backed by the SCOTUS Six, roll-back human rights and attack businesses that support equity, inclusion, and climate sustainability. Young talent today is intolerant of intolerance.
Ziff-Davis kept its headquarters in New York, and we sold the firm successfully a few years later. We decided to move to Colorado in 1997 and raised our two children here. This week, I’m giving thanks to this state made great by a quarter-century commitment to equal rights for everyone.
Notes;
Amendment 2 https://www.cspm.org/cos-150-story/amendment-2/
Colorado journalists have done great work this past week. Follow Heide Beedle for the history of Colorado GOP’s anti-LBGTQ campaigns – context for Saturday https://t.co/1pKAbXYJK4 . Other include https://twitter.com/meganululani and https://twitter.com/CocoDavies and https://twitter.com/alison__berg and https://twitter.com/CarinaJulig
Ali Dukakis has also been talking about Colorado’s history as the original hate state
Follow Colorado’s first out transgender legislator Rep. Brianna Titone; “We must recognize the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric preceding the #CLUBQ shooting” https://t.co/6lqQJlE0oE
Colorado is progressive — but mass shootings are accelerating here, too; https://t.co/6lqQJlE0oE .
Social media amplifies hate , particularly to those isolated and untethered https://t.co/m50PfTP77g . The right wing hate speech disease is well-funded; https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/04/chaya-raichik-libs-tiktok-groomer-tweets.html
Of course, easy guns means more death.
“Gen Z looks to the DEI initiatives of a company as a significant decision-maker on whether or not they're going to apply for or accept a job." https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2022/11/23/gen-z-job-seekers-critical-lens-employer-values.html?taid=637ede590627320001aa1f86&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter
The risk to the country of SCOTUS’ radical federalism; https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2022/09/23/why-federalism-has-become-risky-for-american-democracy/
My earlier article on right-wing SCOTUS dividing the nation: https://coloradosun.com/2022/06/27/supreme-court-abortion-business-opinion/