rteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, saying that Amendment 2infringes upon the homosexual's !
             "fundamental right to participate in thedemocratic process." Romer v. Evans has had amicus curiae or "friend of the court" briefs filed for both sides--briefs that have pitted state against stateand church against church.
             Colorado officials are quick to say that their stateis not acting out of hate, but merely deciding in a democratic fashion whetherhomosexuals need to be singled out for protection against discrimination. TheColorado Supreme Court, however, struck down the amendment, saying: [Amendment 2] bars gay men, lesbians and bisexuals from having aneffective voice in governmental affairs, insofar as those persons deem itbeneficial to seek legislation that would protect them from discrimination basedon their sexual orientation. The United States Supreme Court must now determinewhether or not to uphold the Colorado Supreme Court's decision, despite theresults of the referendum that was basically a public affirmation of orthodoxChristian beliefs. For hundreds of years homosexuality has been uniformly condemned bytraditional Christian societies as immoral. On that ground, it was nevercontested that sodomy should remain illegal and unprotected by any legislation--homosexuals were considered !
             unnatural sexual deviants, and were treated as such.In recent years, however, startling new research has indicated thathomosexuality is possibly inherited and determined by chromosomes. A 1992 studydirected by neuroscientist Simon LeVay showed that a tiny area believed tocontrol sexual activity known as the hypothalamus was less than half the size ingay men as in heterosexual men. This study raises an interesting question: Ifhomosexuality is hereditary, is there any basis for societal discriminationagainst something innate? The reactions of the homosexual community have been mixed.
             As many see it, looking for a "cause" of homosexuality ...