MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A conservative Minnesota group said a U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of gay rights will not stop its efforts to repeal Minnesota’s 1993 gay-rights law.
The high court Monday struck down Colorado’s Amendment 2, which had tried to ban laws designed to protect homosexuals from discrimination.
Tom Prichard, executive director of the Minnesota Family Council, said his group will seek a repeal next session of the Minnesota law. The law extends employment, education, public accommodation, consumer credit and property protection to Minnesotans regardless of sexual orientation.
Prichard said he expects the Supreme Court decision will help rally support in that effort.
Gay and lesbian rights leaders in Minnesota hailed the decision as a victory.
State Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, called the Supreme Court ruling “a critical victory” for gays and lesbians. And Ann DeGroot, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council, called it a “landmark decision.”
Minnesota was one of several states to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the Colorado case. Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III said the decision upheld “a bedrock American principle against attack.”
About 300 people attended a Monday evening rally on the steps of the Capitol to celebrate the decision.
“I’ve been treating people with respect for years,” said Jo Young, a Carleton College student who came to the rally. “Now it’s time for me to be treated with the same respect.”