D,11

San.,/ose Mercury,

'Local

Editorials

Friday ntorninS, AuSust

. Comment

Foes of gay rlghts ordinance plan campaign
a

-.)

By Linda Goldston

-the ordinance becomed effective.

Vowing a "one-day petition drive,"
ionents of Santa Clara County's recently adopted ordinance banning discrimlnation agalnst gays have
launched a drive to keep the law from
going into effect Sept. 5.
The group, spearheaded by the
Committee of Concerned Citizens, has
fewer than 30 days to collect the
more than 37,000 signatures needed to
force a referendum election before

000 to
said Rick Harrington, chairman of the

Staff Writer

"I fully

expect to come up with b0,55,000 signatures'in-one day,"

committee. "I'm really inclined to
thlnk we'll have double that."
Hgwever, supporters of the ordinanie and gay spokespersons said
Thursday they believed the effort
would fail.
"It won't come to the point of a referendum but if it does, it will lose,"
said David Steward, chairman of the

county Human Relations Commission.
Harrington said 2,500 people'have

been organized to lead the petition
drive in the county but declin€d to say
when the petition would be circulated.
"The opposition can organize and
through a variety of methods attempt
to prevent or at least slow down the
petition drive," said Harrington. "I
want to avoid, as much of that as pos.
sible until just before or during the
drive.l'
The ordinance, approved by super-

10,

1979

. Valley Log

Secfron

B

. Obituaries

for referendum

visors Monday after more than 2b cation is based on their behavior,
of public testimony, would ban which is spmething that is cqntrolla-

hours

discrirnination based on sexual orientation in housing, employment, business, real estate transactions and access to government services.
However, Harrington charged the
ordinance allows "homosexuals to
gain a status of recognition of being a
legitimate minority grbup that's being
discriminated against."
"We don't feel they are a legitimate
minority group because their identifi-

ble," he said.

Johnie Staggs, who is head of
Lambda Association, a gay community organization, denied the ordinance

gives special rights to gays. "The'
whole point is that ,we want to be
judged on our ability to pay our rent
and to do our jobs welt."

Continued, on Page 3B

t4L

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l'0,14

Guy rights foes
seek signatures
Continued from Page 78
She said the defeat of Proposition 6, an antigay initiative voted down statewide. and in the
county last November, is proof the push to susp6nd the county's ordinance will fail.
"The county had a higher percentage against
Proposition 6 than the whole state," she said.
George Mann, county registrar of voters, said
37,092 validated signatures will be required to.
suspend the ordinance. It would then be referred
back to the board of supervisors, which could
vote to reseind the ordinance or place the issue
on the ballot in a special election or in the next
regular election.
(The number of signaturbs is based on 10 percent of the total vote by county voters for all
candidates for governor in last year's eleetion.)
However, "it couldn't be on the November ballot," he said. "There's no way we could get the
signatures checked in time."
fire ordinance would be suspended until after
the referendum if enough siginatures are gathered.
Board of,supervisors Chairman Dom Cortese,
who cast the losing vote in the board's 4-1 approvaljof the ordinance, said he would prefer to
iescind the measure if the petition drive is successful.

However, Supervisors Rod Diridon and Su-

sanne Wilson said they would place the issue before voters. Other supervisors could not be

reached for comment.

If the referendum fails or not enough'signatures are collected, Harrington said the Committee of Concerned Citizens will attempt an initiative drive to weaken the ordinance.
"The committee, isn't accepting contributions
right now but we've g0tten a lot of pledges," he
said. "If this thing goes to a full-blown campaign, it will require hundreds of thousands of

dollars."
He said the committee was formed this year
to lobby against the ordinance and is broadbased, countering the claims by many that the
opposition is primarily from fundamentalist
church groups.
"IVe would be lucky if our membership was'
50-50 (50 percent church people)," he said.
Hamington said the committee has a mailing
list of 35,000 persons comprised of "church people," businessmen and interested eitizens.
The Santa Clara County Manufacturing Group
opposed the gay iights ordinance before it was
approved by tle supervisors. Its president, Peter
B. Giles, however, eould not be reached for comment on whether it would support the referendum attempt.
.

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