Amendment Two Colorado: When the State Became the 'Hate State'

Amendment Two Colorado was the state's 1992 anti-gay ballot measure, a constitutional rewrite rather than a mere refusal to act. It earned the national "Hate State" label, generated Romer v. Evans at the U.S. Supreme Court, and remains a reference point for laws that single out one group of people. This guide is worth reading because it connects the 1992 vote to the 1996 ruling that still shapes federal LGBTQ+ rights. Readers tracing how one ballot measure reshaped national precedent should read this guide: it sets the 1992 vote against the boycott that followed and the 1996 ruling, using the Supreme Court case records and a 2024 KUNC retrospective, so the measure's place in modern law becomes clear.

Amendment Two Colorado amended the state Constitution so that neither the state nor any of its subdivisions could enact, adopt, or enforce any law or policy protecting people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. That was not merely the absence of protection; it was an affirmative constitutional prohibition against ever creating such protection. A municipality could not keep an existing ordinance safe from repeal, and it could not pass a new one. 1992 Colorado Amendment 2

Supporters expected a quiet policy debate. Instead, passage triggered a coordinated national boycott — businesses, civic groups, and entertainers cancelling conventions and events in Colorado — and the measure drew intense national coverage. That reaction produced the "Hate State" moniker. Westword traces how the strategy that gave Colorado that label is being repeated in later election cycles. Westword

The challenge reached the nation's highest court as Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, decided in 1996. Justia: Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996) Docketed as 94-1039 and heard under the 1995 term, it held that Amendment Two could not single out gay, lesbian, and bisexual people for a unique legal disability. Oyez: Romer v. Evans, docket 94-1039 Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy declared that "a State cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws." The case was brought by Richard G. Evans and other plaintiffs, including the cities of Denver, Boulder, and Aspen. For a deeper account of the case's history, The Missing History of Romer v. Evans.

Denver refused to comply with Amendment Two from the start. The mayor and City Council would not repeal the city's long-standing anti-discrimination ordinance, effectively daring the state to enforce the amendment against its capital. That defiance was both symbolic and practical, signaling that Colorado's largest city stood against the measure. 1992 Colorado Amendment 2

Colorado's public-media archive documents the measure in its own entry within the CSPM "cos-150-story" series, which preserves landmark moments in the state's political history from its first one hundred fifty years. It is the archival record against which contemporary reports of the amendment can be checked. CSPM: Amendment 2

A 2024 KUNC retrospective records how Coloradans were shocked and outraged after passage of the anti-gay amendment. Published October 7, 2024, it recounts the local organizing that followed the national headlines and gives a sense of the scale of the backlash inside the state itself. KUNC: Ending the Hate State