COURT LETS STAND MEASURE BARRING PROTECTION OF GAYS.(MAIN)

Byline: LINDA GREENHOUSE New York Times

WASHINGTON -- Two years after overturning an anti-gay rights amendment to the Colorado constitution, the Supreme Court on Tuesday left intact a similar measure barring protective legislation for gay people in Cincinnati.

The court refused to hear a challenge to the Cincinnati charter amendment, which voters adopted in 1993 and which a federal appeals court found last year to be constitutional. On the surface, the justices' action sent a confusing signal about whether the court still meant what it said, by a 6-3 majority in the Colorado case, about the Constitution not permitting gay people to be stripped of legal …