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PAT KESSLER: During the weeks before April 25 of this year, Saint Paul was the scene of demonstrations, rallies, and a major media blitz leading up to a vote that energized Saint Paul politics as no other issue had done in recent years. Voters were asked to decide whether homosexuals had the same civil rights as other citizens. By a 2 to 1 margin, they were told they did not.

Now, a month later, emotions still run high on the subject, but the general attitude is that the repeal of gay rights has had no real effect on the lifestyles of homosexuals. Tom Burke is a gay activist who ran for the city council, and who was one spokesman among many for the rights of gays.

Burke says, one important idea was served during the campaign, the homosexual lifestyle was explained to the general public. As Director of the Saint Paul Tenants Union, Burke is in a good position to spot possible discrimination in housing, something the repeal in theory now allows. But Burke says that opposition to homosexuals has failed to materialize.

TOM BURKE: I don't think the repeal of the ordinance in Saint Paul is going, and I said this before the election, is going to have any major impact on the lives of gays in Saint Paul. I mean, the human rights ordinance is really nothing more than a statement of policy. Discrimination laws are, for the most part, basically unenforceable.

And they're particularly unenforceable, for instance, in housing, if there's a tight housing market, which there is an incredibly tight housing market today, because there's no way to prove it. Even if you suspect it, there's no way to prove it. You go and apply for an apartment, there are going to be 10, 20 other people applying for that apartment.

And if you don't get it, there's no way you can prove the reason you didn't get it was because they were discriminating against you. It's the same way with applying for a job. So discrimination laws tend to be more of a statement of public policy, and they don't work unless people actually believe in them.

And I think gays were deceived a lot about their real position vis a vis discrimination by the fact that the ordinances existed. So long as the ordinances existed, gays said, well, we're not being discriminated against. It's illegal and everything's hunky dory. And now all of a sudden, they realize that so-called protection isn't there anymore so it brings reality home a lot more to people.

PAT KESSLER: Dr. Richard Angwin opposed Burke's position on gay rights during the campaign. He's a Baptist preacher who heads Citizens Alert for Morality, a pro-repeal group. Angwin says the repeal issue has complicated his life.

RICHARD ANGWIN: I found myself busier after the repeal than I was before, strangely enough, with answering calls and just dozens and dozens of reporters requests from all over the country for either a speaking engagement or information of some sort. And so I've been wrestling with trying to get everything organized, and discussing the future of citizens alert for morality.

And now everything is pretty well scheduled and we're seeing into a system and we're about to pull out. Of course, one of the greatest burdens I've had 30 days after is the thousands of dollars that we're still in debt that I'm personally responsible for, and I'm working on paying that off. We started off the day of the vote, we were $38,000 in debt.

And through the gifts of a number of concerned citizens, we are now down to $12,000, which is just amazing to us that we've been able to pay off my figure's correct, $26,000 in 30 days. That's saying quite a bit, means that there are people that care. And we expect other offerings. But still $12,000 to me, that's more than my annual salary, almost twice over. So you can imagine how that strikes me if I have to end up paying that. So that's one of my big burdens, I think, being $12,000 in debt.

PAT KESSLER: Angwin says his personal life has a darker side since repeal. Since that vote, his church, Temple Baptist, has been picketed every Sunday by gay rights supporters, and he says he and his family are continually harassed by homosexuals.

PAT KESSLER: Personally, there are several aspects of my life that I think this has changed my life. I've learned to live with terror. We've had a lot of threats by the phone. last week, they took a chain to my car and beat the car up pretty bad. Our building has been painted swastikas on it. I've been called a bigot. And one call in the middle of the night said we lost, but we haven't lost, and we're going to get you some place somewhere, but we will. And then they hung up. Bomb threats in the church.

Two years ago, when this whole thing started on morality, our dog was shot and killed. And, I don't know if you've heard about that or not. We have about 22 documented cases with the police on everything from terroristic activities to vandalism and. So one way has changed my life. And I hate this, I hate this, but I think I'm becoming calloused.

PAT KESSLER: Angwin is becoming nationally known as a speaker for anti-homosexual causes. That reputation has led him to cities around the country, including Wichita, Kansas, where a similar gay rights law was repealed. In addition, Angwin says he's beginning to make the television talk show circuit, beginning with an interview with David Frost.

Homosexual rights supporters say the issue will come up again, possibly in the form of an initiative on a special ballot or in the courts, where they contend the issue of human rights should not be put to a public vote. If and when it does, Angwin says he and his group will be ready to fight it once again. This is Pat Kessler.