Campaign 90s (Saint Paul, Minn.).

In 1988, the St. Paul City Council proposed an amendment to the city charter that would prohibit the use of the referendum and initiative processes for city ordinances relating to human rights, including any ordinances the city might pass protecting individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation. While at the time the city had no ordinance protecting gay rights, the amendment was viewed by opponents as a "back-door" gay rights measure, since it would prevent the voters from repealing by referendum any gay rights ordinance the council might subsequently pass. In September of 1988, the organization Yes for Human Rights was formed to campaign for the passage of the amendment. Many of the group's supporters hoped the amendment would prevent a repeat of the 1978 repeal of a gay rights provision that had been passed by the city council earlier that year.

The 1988 campaign to amend the city charter failed, but Yes For Human Rights did not give up. Now renamed Campaign 90, the group refocused its efforts on getting the St. Paul City Council to pass a human rights ordinance which would make it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation. The organization was also prepared to battle the inevitable repeal effort that opponents would subsequently launch.

...