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Submitted by amy on January 28, 2006 - 10:02am.

Yesterday was the day, my friends. After thirty frickin' years, gays and lesbians finally have protection against discrimination in housing, employment, and insurance in Washington State, thanks to what should not have been a difficult vote for the state Senate.

Oh, but it was. State conservatives came up with all sorts of lame excuses for their bigotry and ignorance:

  • Discrimination against homosexuals doesn't actually happen (then passing this bill shouldn't have been an issue, no?)
  • This legislation will create unaffordable burdens for businesses (oh sure, because no one would bat an eye if someone suggested that insurance companies shouldn't have to cover, say, African-Americans because it would be "bad for the bottom line." Gays? No problem)
  • Anti-discrimination legislation is the back door to gay marriage (sorry kids, wrong back door*)
  • The Bible says homosexuality is wrong, so they shouldn't have rights in Washington (when did we elect Jesus to the legislature, again?)

You and I know that's all crap. Basically, the legislation says this: Hey gays and lesbians, you're people! Just like everybody else!! Not groundbreaking.

But watch out: Fearmongers and bigots are cooking up a referendum measure to kill this important civil rights legislation. Do not sign their petitions. Don't give a voice to hate.

*Not that back door. The gay marriage legislation and/or constitutional amendment back door.

Posted in Civil Rights | Legislation | amy's blog
Eyman strikes again

Yes, I heard on the radio this morning that Tim Eyman has announced that he will be sponsoring an initiative to repeal this bill. Hmm, I wonder how much money he will make off this campaign?

Personally, of course, I like this bill. I am ecstatic that it finally passed! I will not sign the petition for this initiative and if it gets on the ballot, I will most definitely vote No. I'd like to live in a society where you can't get fired for being gay. I think that would be nice.

I would just like to take this opportunity to say that I am fed up with the whole initiative thing. Not just Eyman's initiatives. I know, there are many folks on this site who are big fans of the smoking ban initiative and perhaps some of the other initiatives. (I will admit, I went to a show at the Showbox just last week and it was great to be able to breathe through the whole show!)

Before the last election, I went to a panel discussion of election issues by the PI editorial board. The most memorable part of the evening was when one of them (sorry, I don't remember who) talked about the initiative process in general. The problem here is that the initiative process prevents our legislators from actually doing their jobs - working with different groups and the other political party to craft legislation that compromises between extremes and makes sense. It scares politicians off... why should they make the effort to create coalitions and to craft a law that can get majority approval, when the people are just going to shoot them down? We have a representative democracy for a reason... because there are enough intricacies in the law that the average lay person is not always the best one to work out those details. We elect someone whose views we can respect (well, ideally) and we can vote them out if we don't like the laws they pass. Maybe if our legislators had been forced to deal with this issue themselves, we would have ended up with a smoking ban without that stupid 25' rule.

So, all I have to say to those homophobes out there who fear this law is, if your representative or senator voted for this bill and you don't like it, well, don't vote for them next time! And if that doesn't get you what you want, well, you may have to accept the fact that you live in a state that is populated by only a minority of bigots. I have my fingers crossed that this initiative will fail for that very reason.

Submitted by annemariem on January 30, 2006 - 9:07am.

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