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PAT KESSLER: There does not seem to be a shortage of theories as to why homosexual rights were repealed in the traditionally liberal city of Saint Paul. Some have suggested that Saint Paul simply is not as liberal as had been thought.

Others say the voters misinterpreted the issues involved, and still others believed the anti-gay group had the power to mobilize more supporters faster than the pro-gay organizations.

Saint Paul Mayor George Latimer, obviously disappointed with the defeat of an issue he had strongly supported, says the electorate simply refused to confront the idea expressed by the ordinance.

GEORGE LATIMER: Maybe it could be that of all the things we're able to handle on a public forum, maybe human sexuality is such a delicate subject with so many turns in it and so many religious and moral and individual views.

Maybe that will always be a fractious element in the public debate. It's very difficult to make an accommodation in matters of human sexuality, I found that on all of the issues, abortion being the chief one.

And I just think we've got to decide in this country whether we are a pluralistic society prepared to accept wide divergences because they are there. The wide divergences are there. If we're going to be together as a community, we have got to recognize that. And that's what makes America unique of any other country.

The experiment involves people of absolutely contradictory views. And if you don't get a broad middle ground in a public forum that neutralizes or gets at a level separate from private, moral, sexual, and other private moral beliefs, then this country is going to be in deep trouble. I do believe that.

PAT KESSLER: On the other hand, gay city council candidate Tom Burke, who ran third to winner Rosalie Butler, says DFL support of gay rights ironically may have had something to do with the repeal's success. He says the reason for that support may have been political expediency.

TOM BURKE: The vote in Saint Paul is near the beginning nor the end of the struggle. In some ways, it has certain positive aspects in that it has ripped away the illusion of security and acceptance that gays have been living under in Minnesota.

It is making people, both gay and straight, deal with the reality of the hatred that exists in the community. If there is one thing that we should have learned off of this experience, it is that this is our struggle. If it is going to be won, it is going to be won by us.

While it is important to develop support from the non-gay population, including political leaders, the leadership and strategy must be developed by the gay community through our own organizations. We are the ones who suffer the oppression, the ones who uniquely understand the terms of the struggle.

We can't rely on straight people and their political parties, however sincere they may appear to be, since, first, they don't understand the dynamics of the issue, and second, they often have political interests directly contrary to the interests of gay men and women.

In other words, support from political leaders, particularly in the DFL, exists for their own political purposes. I mean, some of them-- there's a spectrum of opinion. Some of them may be sincere in their support. Others may be supporting it only because of their particular political interests at that point.

PAT KESSLER: Sociologist Dr. David Cooperman says the Saint Paul vote does not necessarily signal a national trend. The University of Minnesota professor thinks there should be a distinction made between what he calls specially selected American cities singled out for repeal and what he says is the significance of a national trend of thought. He believes there are too many other political and social variables.

DAVID COOPERMAN: The only other case was the case in Miami. The case in Saint Paul is two. And from two cases, it would be improper to infer that there is a national trend itself.

The size, however, of the votes in both places, and the fact that there are attempts to repeal in other cities, which seem to be carefully orchestrated attempts. That is, the city seemed to have been chosen by people antagonistic to sexual preference rights as part of human rights ordinances.

And if the way in which I'm theorizing about the issues are correct, namely that there are movements that are developed in the particular cities very well done, meaning that practically they achieve their end, then instead of calling this a national trend, I would certainly say that the success of the people involved has been reinforced by the size of the Saint Paul vote, and it's likely to stimulate them to even better organized efforts in other cities.

PAT KESSLER: Like many political postmortems, the wives are sometimes never answered. A ward by ward, precinct by precinct study is underway. But, again, the answers are usually just speculation.

Dr. Richard Angwin, the leader of the pro-repeal Citizens Alert for Morality, says he's a conservative member of the liberal DFL party. He says, it's wrong to say that Saint Paul is not progressive politically. He says, it's just that Saint Paul is not progressive about sin. This is Pat Kessler.