Romer v. Evans

U.S. Case Law

517 U.S. 620 (1996), held that an amendment to the Constitution of the state of Colorado denying homosexuals the right to protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. The amendment prohibited enactment of any law or policy entitling homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual individuals to claim minority or protected status or any claim of discrimination. In striking down the law, the Court stated, “A law declaring that in general it shall be more difficult for one group of citizens than for all others to seek aid from the government is itself a denial of equal protection of the laws in the most literal sense.” It concluded that the amendment “classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else.”