What did the Supreme Court decide in Romer v. Evans?

In the 1996 case Romer v. Evans, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 to invalidate an amendment to the Colorado state constitution, known as Amendment 2. This amendment had been passed by voters to repeal existing local and state laws that protected individuals from discrimination based on their sexual orientation and to prohibit the future enactment of such protections.

Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy held that the amendment violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. The Court determined that the law lacked a rational basis and was motivated by a "bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group." By stripping gay and lesbian citizens of the ability to seek legal protection against discrimination, the amendment effectively excluded them from the social and political order, a practice the Court affirmed is inconsistent with the Constitution’s commitment to neutrality and the principle that the law should not tolerate classes among citizens.1