Q-Seattle Events: Tacky Tourist Clubs

Equal Rights Washington (ERW) has issued what they're calling an "urgent" notice for Washingtonians to their representaves about ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) legislation in the House. In this particular case, even calls to Seattle's Rep. Jim McDermott would be useful, according to ERW.

Like most (but not quite all) LGBT activist groups, ERW is opposed to the version of the bill that was passed last week by a House committee. That version (what we've been calling LGB-No-T ENDA) includes job protections for "sexual orientation", but not for "gender identity".

ERW's take:

[T]he bill being voted on (HR 3685) is a stripped-down version which does not include protection based on gender identity. Not only is this bad for transgender workers, it leaves everyone who does not conform to rigid gender stereotypes vulnerable to workplace discrimination. The original version (HR 2015) included protection based on gender identity.

Things are moving quickly and we need your help today.

At this critical juncture in the struggle for equality, we must tell Congress to do the right thing for all Americans--LGBT and straight. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the first openly LGBT member of Congress elected as a non-incumbent, has announced her plan to offer an amendment to HR 3685 that will restore gender identity protections. The Baldwin Amendment is our best hope to offer protection based on gender identity.

They're urging calls even to McDermott because -- although he's a usually reliable vote on the ERW-type side of most issues like this -- this particular activist v. politics issue has been more devisive.

They recommend this kind of approach:

Please call Rep. McDermott's office at (206) 553-7170. Please be polite and remember that your congressperson is not the problem. We need his leadership. The purpose of your call is to convey how important it is to you that gender identity be included in the ENDA.

When calling, feel free to use the following script outline:

Introduce yourself & then let them know why you're calling:

It is vital that the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) include gender identity. As your constituent, I'm asking you not only to support the Baldwin Amendment, which would add gender identity protections to HR 3685 (the new version of the ENDA), but also to speak to your collegues and encourage them to support it as well. If the Baldwin Amendment fails I would ask Rep. McDermott not to support final passage of HR 3685. We would rather take the time to build support for HR 2015, the original and inclusive ENDA, of which Rep. McDermott is an original cosponsor.

Then ask the following questions:

Question 1. Is Rep. McDermott planning to vote for the Baldwin Amendment to HR 3685?

Question 2. Has Rep. McDermott decided how he will vote on HR 3685 if the Baldwin Amendment fails?

End the call with a thank you:

If you live outside of Seattle, a call to your congressman would be even more vital on this issue.

And, frankly, we'll leave it up to you to decide what you'd like to see happen if the Baldwin amendment doesn't pass and LGB-No-T ENDA comes up for a vote. But that's an issue for another day. The vote on the amendment is at least a test of where things will go with this activist dustup.

[post mirrored from seaQwa.com]

Labels: activism, ENDA, org:ERW, politics, rights legislation, state:WA

Yes, we're too late mentioning this (as we have been with just about everything) for you to get to the rally, but it's still worth noting that Seattle's activist groups have joined with almost all of their national cohorts to oppose a Congressional bargain that would move forward next week with a version of ENDA -- the Employment Non-Discrimination Act -- that would offer job protection based on sexual orientation.

The activist groups object to the legislation because it would exclude job protections based on gender identity. It's a compromise being pushed by the chamber's only out gay male member, Rep. Barney Frank, and by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because they claim it's the only way to get the long-delayed rights bill passed.

A rally will be held this afternoon at the Seattle LGBT Center at 2pm. It's sponsored by Ingersoll Gender Center, Seattle LGBT Center, and Equal Rights Washington. Its purpose:

THIS RALLY IS FOR YOU! WE ARE MAKING OUR VOICES HEARD

Hundreds of organizations from around the country have joined the UnitedENDA.org coalition. Togeher in a matter of days we have generated tens of thousands of constituebnt contacts. The Democratic leadership is listening. Now we must prove that we can deliver votes, remained unified and educate the public about the importance of passing ENDA that includes gender identity.

This is a classic battle between activists and politicians. The politicians insist that a compromise is necessary if something important is to get done. The activists insist the the political compromise makes the whole effort meaningless.

You can pick your side on this one, but if you would like to add your voice to those of the activists, you can do it by visiting this link. which will help you send an email on the issue to your congress-critter.

Labels: activism, ENDA, Gay events, org:ERW, org:Ingersoll, org:SLGBTC, politics, rights legislation

The DC Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported yesterday that Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct after he was arrested during a police sting for bathroom cruising in the Minneapolis airport.

That guilty plea was finally enough to get the senator's home-state newspaper, Boise's Idaho Stateman to run a story they'd been sitting on for months:

Sen. Larry Craig, who in May told the Idaho Statesman he had never engaged in homosexual acts, was arrested less than a month later by an undercover police officer who said Craig made a sexual advance toward him in an airport men's room.

The arrest at a Minnesota airport prompted Craig to plead guilty to disorderly conduct earlier this month. His June 11 encounter with the officer was similar to an incident in a men's room in a Washington, D.C., rail station described by a Washington-area man to the Idaho Statesman. In that case, the man said he and Craig had sexual contact. ...

The most serious finding by the Statesman was the report by a professional man with close ties to Republican officials. The 40-year-old man reported having oral sex with Craig at Washington's Union Station, probably in 2004. The Statesman also spoke with a man who said Craig made a sexual advance toward him at the University of Idaho in 1967 and a man who said Craig "cruised" him for sex in 1994 at the REI store in Boise. The Statesman also explored dozens of allegations that proved untrue, unclear or unverifiable.

The Stateman story by Dan Popkey is truly a must-read for insight into the ways of the closet. When Popkey recounted for Craig the claims of the gay man who said he'd been cruised by Craig at the Boise REI, the senator responded,

"Once again, I'm not gay, and I don't cruise, and I don't hit on men. I have no idea how he drew that conclusion. A smile? Here is one thing I do out in public: I make eye contact, I smile at people, they recognize me, they say, 'Oh, hi, Senator.' Or, 'Do I know you?'

"I've been in this business 27 years in the public eye here. I don't go around anywhere hitting on men, and by God, if I did, I wouldn't do it in Boise, Idaho! Jiminy!"

Hmm. Sure does know a lot about what he wouldn't do if he were gay, eh?

The Statesman story is late in coming, but more damning because it's more carefully sourced than previous accusations about Craig's occasional bathroom escapades. Although the paper didn't print anything about it at the time, the Stateman started looking into the senator's sexual escapades after blogger Mike Rogers posted a report on blogactive.com on October 17 about the senator. Rogers claimed in the post to have talked to three men who claimed to have had sex with Craig. All three men wanted to remain anonymous, Rogers said in the post.

The Stateman was able to contact and interview one of the three men -- the man who said he'd had sex with Craig at DC's Union Station.

During its investigation, the Statesman interviewed 300 people, visited the ranch where Craig grew up, and made two trips to Washington, D.C.

On May 12, two days before its interview with Craig, the Statesman finally interviewed Rogers' "best source," the man who says he is certain he had a brief sexual encounter with Craig at Union Station, which is two blocks from Craig's office. The man said the sex occurred in two restrooms on a weekday afternoon. He estimated the encounter lasted three or four minutes.

The man's motive was twofold. A lifelong Republican, he recently had re-registered as a Democrat because he's angry with what he sees as the GOP's gay-bashing. Second, he was tired of Rogers picking on congressional staffers and offered him the chance to "out" a senator.

The Washington-area man's story has remained consistent, beginning with his Aug. 9, 2004, e-mail to Mike Rogers: "I've hooked up with Craig ... why not out some actual members and not their staffers?"

But that story wasn't enough for the Statesman until the report of Craig's arrest and guilty plea.

Until Monday's report, Craig was facing a lone credible accuser. Rogers told the Statesman he had lost track of his other two sources, who he said described encounters with the senator, one in Idaho and one in Seattle. Rogers concedes he doesn't know those two sources' last names. "I was an amateur," he told the Statesman.

The Statesman followed dozens of leads about alleged sexual partners. Two prevalent rumors swirl around two men who are dead. The Statesman has found no written record of sexual intimacy between those men and Craig. Relatives of those men are dead, unaware of proof to substantiate the rumors, or unreachable.

Two other alleged partners unequivocally denied having been intimate with Craig. Other accounts are simply unfounded. Some were inconclusive.

There are, however, the two men who told the Statesman Craig made passes at them. Craig denied those accounts in his May 14 interview.

So, then... There still appears to be someone out there in Seattle who talked to Mike Rogers last fall about Larry Craig and know a whole lot more about this story. But then, there are also some who still doubted the stories:

Last fall, Craig's neighbors at a Washington marina expressed disbelief at Rogers' attempt to out him. Ed Johnson is an openly gay man, former local elected official and has been an acquaintance and neighbor of Craig's off and on for 15 years. He is president of the Gangplank Slipholders Association, a neighbor to the smaller Capital Yacht Club, where Craig lives.

A Democrat, Johnson works for the American Humanists Association, which he describes as "the godless, liberal, left-wing atheists."

"If I thought there was truth to the rumor, I'd be first in line to out him," said Johnson, who agrees hypocritical public officials should be exposed.

"But after 15 years in a close-knit community where everybody knows everybody's business, to be that clandestine and never have anything said ? it's just hard to imagine. I mean, if somebody has a fight and breaks up with their boyfriend or girlfriend, you know it the next day."

Labels: Idaho, politics

A couple of legal issue bloggers expected the ruling to be appealed when the 10th Circuit Court ruled against the Oklahoma legislature's bizarre decision to deny birth certificates to children born in OK who had been adopted by same-sex couples (in other states, since that's not OK in OK).

Fortunately, that won't happen. The Oklahoma agency that issues birth certificates announced last week that it will honor the appeals court decision.

Tom Cross, the state Health Department's deputy general counsel, said the agency could not meet the requirements to have the 10th Circuit reconsider its opinion.

The agency does not believe that the U.S. Supreme Court would take up the case, he said.

"We will be issuing birth certificates for all adoptions, whether same-sex or not, for children born in Oklahoma," Cross said.

Lambda Legal, which filed cases challenging the hastily-adopted law, celebrated the decision.

"This is a monumental decision, not just for the couples involved in the case, but for lesbian and gay parents and their children nationwide," said Jon Davidson, Legal Director of Lambda Legal. "It means that when same-sex couples have an adoption decree recognizing both of them as parents, the adoption, and their status as their child's parents, must be honored no matter where they go."

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Still trying to recover a response at the Logo prez forum, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson got some help from a not-so-desirable source, Fox's Bill O'Reilly.

When a viewer email questioned his previous remarks that Bill Richardson "looked bad by saying he believed homosexuality was a choice," Fox News' Bill O'Reilly responded, "I think everybody's got to relax on all this gay stuff."

You know you're in trouble if you?re a Democrat and O'Reilly comes to your defense. Huffington Post blogger RJ Eskow caught onto O'Reilly's probably unintentional 'Relax' reference, and so we offer this: (via YouTube)




But that wasn't O'Reilly's only indication during the week that he just can't bring himself to "relax about this gay stuff". He also flubbed a report about a poll that showed the votes of most folks in three swing states wouldn't be affected if a candidate were endorsed by a gay rights group. And then he flubbed it again when someone pointed out he'd been wrong the first time. (But then, he wasn't the only one. Politico.com headlined its story on the poll "Gay support could cost candidates".)

But the incident did help earn O'Reilly a not-so-rare two-fer on Olbermann's Worst Person nomination. [YouTube].

Labels: gay news, news bites, politics, TV

We posted some of the flurry of news stories on our news feed, but we might be the only gay-related blog that didn't do at least one post last week about Logo's forum for Democratic presidential candidates. But if you missed it, it's not too late to catch the full forum on Logo's website.

But, really, what we were waiting for is coverage of the event by Jon Stewart. You gotta love the bit about Melissa Etheridge's loooong questions. Although, of course, she did manage to ask the one question that really made news in the forum: Gov. Bill Richardson is still trying to recover from his flubbed response to the "rock star's" choice question.

Labels: celebrities, news bites, politics, TV

The comeback is one of the grand traditions of the entertainment world where they sometimes work. We see attempts even in politics (see, eg, Nixon) but the attempts rarely work out there. So here are a few recent news items that prompt a sense of "we've see that before..."

He's never really gone away, but Joe Fuiten, Bothell's rabidly anti-gay preacher/political activist is back under a new auspices. He formed his own group called after leaving Faith and Freedom Network. But now, he's folded that group into yet another new outfit called Family Policy Institute of Washington.

This one is under the philosophical umbrella (but not, they insist, the financial umbrella) of James Dobson's Focus on Family.

Fuiten's is also encouraging pastors throughout the state to get each member of their congrations to register to vote. Fuiten hopes to target legislators who voted for Washington's domestic partnership registry.
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And then there's Aubrey McClendon, the Sonics silent-partner co-owner, who helped bankroll one of Gary Bauer's anti-gay programs. Slog uncovered his funding of the Bauer project [background] at just about the time that the Sonics/Storm owners started threatening to move their teams away from Seattle -- both teams, including the Storm with its significant lesbian fanbase.

Well, McClendon stepped into it again with -- of all things -- a proposed real-estate development in Michigan. There are -- as often happens with these things -- a wealth of potential problems with the proposed beach-front development. Those potential problems have, of course, attracted a wealth of potential opponents of the development proposal. But, there's one extra problem for McClendon. It seems that his development proposal has drawn fire from an unlikely group -- gay folk in the area. Oops. McClendan bought an area of dunes and beach that is considered by locals to be the gay beach. Oh, boy...

McClendon's "people" gave a familiar response when asked about the opposition. "[B]ut after all, this is private property," said a spokesman.
---
And imagine, if you will, being famous as member of a "gay group" when you were never gay. Oh, the horror, eh? Maybe it would drive you to drink and drugs. Well, it seems that that's exactly what happened to Victor Willis former lead singer and "cop" of the Village People. But don't cry too much for the singer/songwriter. While racking up arrests and rehabilitation stints since leaving the group in the early 80s, Willis has made over a million dollars in royalties on 'not gay' songs he wrote for the disco group, including "In the Navy", "YMCA", and "Macho Man".

Willis is clean and sober now according to his "people", and ready to mount some sort of comeback tour after releasing a promised tell-all book in the fall. And yes, there's a regional connection even here. Turns out Willis wrote "YMCA" in Vancouver. According to his publicist, "Victor Willis wrote about the YMCA and having fun there, but the type of fun he was talking about was straight fun."

We'll have to wait for that tell-all book to get the nitty-gritty about what kind of not-gay fun the guys at the Vancouver Y were having way back when.
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In other 'not gay' news, there's Matt Sanchez, that hot-looking Marine conservative activist from a few months back. Soon after making several appearances on Fox News programs and hob-nobbing with Ann Coulter, Sanchez was identified as a former actor in gay porn known as "Rod Majors" [background]. He said then that making those movies was just a "summer job." Although he's remained a popular search topic on blogs, Sanchez mostly disappeared from News Corp TV. But he's not been forgotten by the company's many media outlets.

Cpl. Matt "Rod Majors" Sanchez turned up again as an expert source in an article in News Corp's Weekly Standard magazine.

Sorry, no local connection to this story.

Labels: celebrities, gay news, news bites, politics, sports

Does the air feel a bit different out there today? Something beyond this uncommon summer rain? Do you feel the earth shaking under "traditional marriage"? Yeah... Probably not. But today is the day when domestic partnerships for gay couples and some straight couples officially become recognized in Washington. Of course, it doesn't make a lot of difference until the Secretary of State's office opens tomorrow morning at 8 am in Olympia to begin processing the registrations.

And if you are planning to head to Olympia tomorrow along with all the TV satellite trucks, the office of Secretary of State Sam Reed warns that you should expect to wait in line:

Monday July 23 is the first day that the Office of the Secretary of State will accept registrations at the Dolliver Building. The doors will open at 8:00 am.

We are expecting long lines and long waits on the first days of registration. It is likely that we will not be able to complete every registration that we receive on the first day. Review this information to help us complete as many registrations as possible on July 23

• Consider mailing or leaving the declaration form and fee to be filed. All complete registrations will be effective on the date received. We will mail the completed registrations, certificates, and wallet cards to you. You can register in person and receive your certificates on the spot, but you may need to be patient.
• Complete the forms before you come in. We will post the forms on this website on Wednesday July 18. The forms will be in PDF format. Download the form; complete it on your computer. Then print the form.
  
  If possible sign and notarize the form before coming to the Corporations Division. We will have notaries available, but notarizing the documents will add substantial processing time to each application. The more documents we have to notarize, the fewer registrations we will be able to complete on the first day.
• Parking and transportation. There is very limited parking available at the Dolliver Building. On-street metered parking is available in the area but it is difficult to find a space. Free parking is available at the Capitol Visitor parking lot. See Map. Intercity Transit offers the free DASH shuttle from the Capitol Visitors parking and the Capitol Campus. This service runs every twelve minutes and stops one block from the Dolliver Building. DASH Shuttle information.

The registration fee for partnerships is $50. Once the two of you are officially partners, each partner will receive an original (and, we trust, frame-able) "Certificate of State Registered Domestic Partnership" along with a wallet card showing the registration of the domestic partnership. (It's not clear from the website if they give a wallet card to each partner, or just one. In either case, a replacement card is available for $10.) The secretary of state's office will also provide one file stamped copy of the registration document.

Reed's office also offers a nifty FAQ to answer a few frequently asked questions about the partnerships.

Reporters have been searching out gay and lesbian partners to profile in preparation for the big day tomorrow. A few of the stories:

[Seattle PI:] After spending this weekend relaxing in Olympia, Laura Mansfield and Marilyn Guthrie plan to walk from their bed-and-breakfast to an office of the Secretary of State on Monday morning and file a notarized form. ...

For Mansfield and Guthrie, the registration comes nearly a year after their pastor at University Congregational United Church of Christ conducted a wedding for them in the front yard of their Ballard home.

"We made our commitment then, before family and God and friends," said Mansfield, 43, director of communications for Seattle Central Community College. "This (registration) is recognizing our relationship legally."

Guthrie said she hopes gay couples would gain "not only the benefits but the responsibilities of full marriage equality."

Among those, she said, is involvement in the care of partners who are hospitalized, especially when they are in intensive care. Under current law, hospitals could limit access to spouses or other close family members.

Being relegated to the hospital hallway is "sort of the big scary thing out there that you don't want to happen," said Guthrie, 46, storm water program manager for the Port of Seattle.

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[AP via Boston Globe] Tom Richardson and Salvador Valenzuela first marked their commitment to each other with a city domestic partnership in Seattle. When Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex marriage, they married, and hyphenated their last names.

Now back in Washington state, the Richardson-Valenzuelas plan to register for a state domestic partnership here. ...

The only problem is that by doing so, they risk getting Salvador, a Mexican national, deported, because registering could jeopardize the temporary tourist visas he uses to enter the country.

"It's really important for our relationship to be recognized," said Tom Richardson-Valenzuela, who said they both realize that the immigration laws may catch up with them. "We are a legitimate couple. If we have to leave the United States, as much as we don't want to leave the country, we will."

The AP story in the Globe warns couples that include a foreign national or a member of the armed forces to carefully consider the risks before signing up for a domestic partnership. The registry is public information subject to disclosure on request.

[The Columbian] One couple who won't be waiting are state Sen. Ed Murray, prime sponsor of the domestic partnership bill, and his partner of 16 years, Michael Shiosaki.

"In Olympia on Monday morning, amongst all the general excitement and with great joy and pride in our hearts, Michael and I will get in line with everyone else to be registered as domestic partners by the Secretary of State," Murray, a Seattle Democrat, said in a statement.

State Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, another openly gay legislator, said he and his partner will not be taking advantage of the domestic partnership law.

"We will be holding out for the big church wedding," he said. "When that becomes legal , and we can get a legal notice in your newspaper, we'll take advantage of that."

AP writer Dave Ammons offers a brief history of the legislative road that led to the domestic partnership law.

The state's first openly gay legislator, Cal Anderson, and other lawmakers struggled for nearly 30 years to get the civil rights bill through Olympia last year. Democrats padded their majorities in both houses and came right back to pass marriage-like rights this year.

On Monday, Sen. Ed Murray, Anderson's successor in the Legislature and in leading the charge, and his 16-year partner, Michael Shiosaki, will line up at the secretary of state's counter in Olympia to register their domestic partnership.

Then Murray will drive home and get started on the next phase of the battle that has sometimes consumed him.

What's next? The gay community isn't much interested in civil unions but plans to seek full marriage equality. How long that takes, say the advocates, will depend on how quickly public opinion continues to turn their way.

"I believe we will get there in a decade, if not sooner," says Murray, the senior of five gay men in the state Legislature.

Foes say they'll fight every inch of the way and insist they still have public opinion on their side. One leading evangelical, though, believes it likely is a losing battle and that gays will someday be able to marry here.

Labels: marriage equality, politics, SB5336, Washington

Under pressure of a lawsuit like that filed against Bellevue earlier this year, the Redmond City Council this week voted unanimously to grant benefits to the domestic partners of city employees that are equivalent to those offered to spouses of married employees. The move came only after the Eastside city had recieved a letter threatening suit by Lambda Legal.

Lambda Legal had threatened the city with legal action on behalf of two veteran city police officers, Cmdr. Kristi Wilson and Lt. Betsy Lawrence. In a strongly worded letter to the city on June 19, the organization called on city leaders to heed years of requests on the part of both employees and several unions, and grant equal benefits to all employees.

"We are pleased that Redmond has joined its municipal neighbors and other mainstream employers by adopting an equal family benefits plan for its gay and lesbian employees, said Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Tara Borelli. "Other cities should follow Redmond's lead by recognizing that their dedicated lesbian and gay employees deserve equal pay for equal work."

PI columnist Susan Paynter had given Redmond's council members added incentive to finally equalize its benefits package in a strongly-worded column published the morning before the vote was taken.

It's not a new benefit; it's one the city already provides. Certainly it's not "special treatment," says Redmond Police Cmdr. Kristi Wilson, a 20-year law enforcement veteran with 14 years on the Redmond force.

And, contrary to what cities and companies always say just before they cave, it's really not about money.

"If I were to leave (the job), they likely would hire a heterosexual to replace me and have to provide the same benefit they're denying me," Wilson told me. "The financial aspect just doesn't hold water. Look at the hundreds of companies around us. Microsoft, lots of other municipalities. The state. And they're not in bankruptcy."

The health-coverage scare struck home in January when Wilson was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thank God it wasn't her partner who wouldn't have been covered, or something catastrophic striking their two kids, now nearly 6 and 3 1/2 years old.

Equal benefits actually give employers an advantage in hiring and holding on to high-quality workers, not to mention the fact that it's just plain right, Wilson says. "There are human beings attached to this issue. I'm not an unknown commodity. They know me. My partner stays home to raise our kids. We are mainstream America."

Paynter's column, coming on the heels of Lambda's letter, may have helped humanize the issue for the council.

Redmond Police Lt. Betsy Lawrence has 23 years in law enforcement. She and her partner have five kids -- all but one of whom lives with them full time -- to feed and care for. And she has a deep sadness about the way we seem to crawl toward equality. "Employees with same-sex partners deserve the same compensations as those who are able to marry their different-sex partners," she said.

Ultimately, she'd love some legislative stroke of the pen to put this patchwork approach to bed. But, for now, this seems to be the way we do it.
Lawrence lauds the Redmond Police Department as the best bunch of dedicated, fair-minded folks she's ever worked with. If it were up to them, she said, they'd do this today. Instead, it's at the door of City Hall. ...

But, for Lawrence, her partner, and their kids -- 15, 11 and 5 and 19-month-old twins -- it's a matter of basic security. When the twins were born a month premature, the fragility of both their health and the family finances really hit her. Had she not rushed her already prepared adoption paper work to the courthouse within hours of the birth, hundreds of thousands of dollars from a month of ICU costs would not have been covered.

Lawrence thinks that everyone who works -- certainly those with jobs that put them in jeopardy -- ought to be able to handle a health care crisis without facing financial ruin.

She went into law enforcement in the first place in order to make people feel safer, to ensure that those who've already been hurt won't be harmed any more. "I just want the best for everyone, really," she said.

Labels: equal rights, politics, Washington

Just weeks after Bellevue responded to a lawsuit by allowing domestic partners of city employees to get the same benefits afforded spouses of married employees, Pierce County will consider following suit.

The Tacoma News Tribune reports that the county executive, John Ladenburg, announced the plan Tuesday. It's expected to be introduced to the county council next month.

Under the plan, the county would extend medical, dental and sick leave benefits to domestic partners for both same- and opposite-sex relationships. The county has no estimate of how many domestic partners would be eligible.

"We're joining the many cities and counties around the country that already provide benefits to employee partners," Ladenburg said in a news release. "It puts us on equal footing when it comes to attracting and keeping good employees."

In addition to Bellevue, King and Snohomish Counties, and Seattle, Burien, and Spokane offer similar plans to their employees.

Labels: equal rights, marriage equality, politics, Washington

We haven't heard much from Redmond pastor Ken Hutcherson lately about his discrimination initiative, I-963. If passed, Hutcherson's initiative would wipe out a law passed by the 2005 legislature that amends the state's civil rights laws to bar discrimination in housing, employment, and insurance because of sexual orientation or transgender status.

Despite the lack of publicity, the measure is being given a good chance in an analysis by Olympian reporter Brad Shannon of initiatives that have been introduced for possible placement on the November, 2008 ballot.

Hutcherson hasn't raised the kind of money usually required to qualify any initiative for the ballot, but an alliance of churches might still help him get his measure on the ballot, according to the report.

"Unless they are raising six figures, it's really hard to get things on the ballot.... It costs usually hundreds of thousands of dollars ... to get on the ballot," said Todd Donovan, a Western Washington University professor of political science who has authored books on the initiative process.

One potential exception is I-963, which seeks to repeal gay-rights provisions adopted by lawmakers in 2006. That law already survived Eyman?s referendum signature drive last year.

But this year's effort is led by Ken Hutcherson, the former professional football player who now serves as senior pastor at Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland; Hutcherson opposes same-sex marriage and civil rights protections for gays.

Donovan said other states have seen low-cost ballot measures succeed around the issue of gay marriage or gay rights.

"A lot of those were low-cost campaigns where they got a lot of signatures through churches," he said.

It's not mentioned in the Olympian article, but Hutcherson's recent activism on behalf of anti-gay groups in the Baltic republic of Latvia (see our posts) has probably helped to cement his alliance with some Russian-speaking churches in this area. His partner on the Latvia trips was anti-gay activist Scott Lively from Oregon. Russian-speaking immigrants in Oregon organized loud protests in Salem when the Oregon legislature considered a similar anti-discrimination measure earlier this year. The bill passed in Oregon.

Labels: I-963, initiative, ken hutcherson, latvia, politics, Washington

Bellevue's city council voted unanimously last night to grant to the domestic partners of city employees the same benefits now offered to married spouses of employees.

"It's definitely an exciting night and a giant leap forward for the city of Bellevue," George Einsetler, a Bellevue 911 dispatcher, told the Seattle Times.

Lambda Legal filed suit in April against the city on behalf of Einsetler and two firefighters who had been denied benefits for their partners. On May 14, the union representing Bellevue firefighters joined the suit. In a letter to Bellevue's mayor and council, International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Local 1604 wrote, "We strongly urge the City Council to adopt a broad based domestic partner benefits program."

Bellevue firefighter Larry deGroen turned to Lambda Legal after being denied one day bereavement leave when his partner's father died.

deGroen told KING5, "I don't think I deserve to be treated like a second-class citizen, and I don't want my gay and lesbian co-workers to feel the pain that I felt in being told that my family doesn't matter... I think this lawsuit has really shown that... the time is right for the City of Bellevue to move forward."

deGroen is a firefighter and paramedic in Bellevue and has been an employee of the city for more than 12 years. He and life partner Tom Dixon have been together for more than 16 years.

Einsetler is the city's lead 911 dispatcher, and has been a city employee for 13 years. He and his life partner, Cameron Murdock, have been in a committed relationship for more than three years.

The other firefighter named in the suit, Faun Patzer, has a 17-year career as a Bellevue firefighter, and was the first female firefighter to successfully complete the city's prestigious paramedic training program. She has been with life partner Carrie Wurzburg for over four years.

IAFF had pressed for the domestic partner benefits in recent contract negotiations but had been rebuffed by the city.

After Lambda filed its suit in April, the city council directed staff to finally develop a "strategy" for equalizing city benefits. The council voted last night to adopt the staff recommendations, but benefits will not be implemented until the city's human resources department renegotiates contracts with unions, including IAFF.

In a May 14 letter to the city council, Lambda's lawyers for the case, Jennifer Pizer and Tara Borelli, wrote,

Lambda Legal and Local 1604 are delighted that the City Council is considering the adoption of a domestic partner benefits plan. As the plaintiffs in the deGroen lawsuit know well, a denial of family-support benefits inflicts real harms on dedicated, loyal City employees. Lambda Legal and Local 1604 therefore urge the City Council immediately to end the City's restriction of those benefits to only married employees.

King County and Seattle have both granted benefits to domestic partners for several years, as has the state, Snohomish County and other cities. The Seattle Times report notes that lack of benefits in Bellevue might have cost the city some employees.

Several gay employees have left the city in recent years because of the lack of benefits, according to the employees involved in the suit.

[Bellevue Mayor Grant] Degginger said he hopes the new benefits will help the city retain and recruit workers. "It's a challenging job market out there," he said.

Labels: equal rights, marriage equality, politics, Washington

Congrats to David Brewster's Crosscut for doing a second story on gay issues in a month. That's more than The Weekly would have done in a year while he was running the thing.

The latest story is by Austin Jenkins, "the Olympia-based political reporter for Northwest News Network, a consortium of public radio stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. He covers Northwest politics and public policy as well as the Washington Legislature."

It's a good story about the influence of philanthropist/activist Tim Gill on Washington politics. But we're just slightly less than thrilled to see it because we saw the same story somewhere else several months ago. Where? Right here and here. That was February.

Unlike our story, Jenkins doesn't show the actual influence of the Gill group on Washington races, but he does add some quotations by folks who didn't comment for our story.

Washington state Sen. Ed Murray, an openly gay Seattle Democrat, says the gay lobby has traditionally focused on national races. But after the 2004 election, that started changing.

"In the last presidential election, the gay community had its clock cleaned," admits Murray, referring to the eleven states ? including Oregon ? that passed ballot measures banning gay marriage.

Murray and Guerriero say after that election, the gay community swung into action. Murray explains it this way: "What's going on is there's sort of a fairly low-grade, under-the-radar conversation that's going on in the gay community about investing at the state level."

...and...

The fact the Gill effort in Washington and Oregon is only now [???, ahem...] coming to light ? six months after the election ? concerns one defeated Republican. Former House member Toby Nixon says it's a sign the current campaign finance disclosure system may be inadequate.

"If there was some way in more real time during the campaign to find out that this kind of considered effort was going on, maybe a more effective response could be mounted," says Nixon.

But another defeated Republican, Luke Esser, a former state senator and now Washington State Republican Party Chair, refuses to bash the out-of-state money that came into his district. "I think it's incumbent upon Republicans and those who are not in favor of the gay marriage agenda to be ready to raise the money they need to win elections in the future," Esser says.

It's a story worth repeating and Jenkins tells it well, but really now... there's a thing out here sometimes called "the internets" and something on those "tubes" called, by some "the Google" or "the Technorati". Amazing things. You should try them out. We also understand that Brewster and his crowd of ex-Weekly-ites at Crosscut like to see themselves as arbiters of what is good and proper in journalism and much more, but really, now. Wouldn't you consider this kind of thing unseemly if it were done without attribution by someone else?

Labels: legislature, politics, tim gill, Washington

One of three announced candidates for the open post of Snohomish County Sheriff is bringing in Redmond's anti-gay activist preacher Ken Hutcherson for what is billed as a campaign fundraiser and "prayer rally."

Tom Greene a current bureau chief in the county's police force is running against Democratic state Rep. John Lovick and sheriff's Lt. Robert Beidler for the post which must be vacated by incumbent Sheriff Rick Bart who can't run again because of term limits.

Although they couldn't quite figure out where or what Snohomish County is, UK Gay News found it odd that someone running for sheriff would bring in as a campaign speaker the preacher who is reportedly being investigated for misrepresenting himself during his recent foriegn trips to Latvia.

With the White House denying that Hutcherson had been given any special status for his trip to Latvia, and Hutcherson claiming that he has "video proof" (though he is refusing to produce this), it is a certain case of "oh no we didn't" and "oh yes they did".

So, in true British pantomime tradition, perhaps there should also be the "behind you" message sent out to the Bureau Chief of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office who is now campaigning for election as sheriff.

It's not clear from Greene's campaign site why he's invited Hutcherson to become involved in a Snohomish race for sheriff. But then, there are often code words used for these kinds of things. Maybe that makes it notoble that Greene touts as one of his "core values", "Live by the Boy Scout Law and Oath".

Labels: ken hutcherson, politics, Washington

Bellevue's Sheriff Dave (aka Congressman Dave Reichert (R-8)) joined 24 other Republicans and 212 Democrats (including all of Washington's D Congressmen) to pass a federal hate crimes bill this week that would expand an existing statute to include acts of violence explicitly motivated by the victim's perceived gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

The bill, dubbed "Matthew Shepard Act", would increase possible penalties, provide federal assistance to local jurisdictions under special conditions, and expand the conditions under which federal authorities could prosecute a bias-motivated crime under any of the categories which also include race, religion, sex, national origin.

In a statement released upon passage of the bill, Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott (D-7) said,

Every day somewhere in this country, an innocent person is victimized or traumatized because of their race, religion or sexual preference; that is wrong and intolerable and I will not stand by while civil rights are beaten back or shouted down. This legislation would provide local law enforcement with resources they need and don?t have to vigorously pursue and prevent hate crimes.

Reichert and the other Republicans who voted for the bill have been targeted by right-wing lobby groups and bloggers because of the vote. They're urging supporters to flood Riechert and the other Republicans with letters and emails. (Those who live in Reichert's district and support his vote should contact him as well.)

Even before the final vote in the House, the White House issued a statement saying that Bush would be advised to veto the hate crimes measure if it reaches his desk. The statement was issued after a heavy lobbying push by opponents of the measure.

A major right-wing talking point used by those who opposed the measure is that the bill -- which explicitly covers only overt acts of violence -- somehow creates a class of "thought crimes." An example:

Make no mistake about it, the Democrat[ic] House is trying to make thought a crime. ...

This is an insidious bit of legislation meant to create special laws to legitimize homosexuality and make a crime anyone attempting to advocate for a Christian worldview. This bill makes activism against the homosexual agenda, among other things, subject to prosecution as a "hate crime" because the definition of "hate crime" is being expanded to include sexual orientation.

Gay blogger Chris Crain -- who was himself once a victim of a gay-bashing assault -- patiently explained in several posts prior to the vote that the law would not criminalize thought.

Not only does the Shepard specifically limit itself to "violent offenses," the bill contains a special provision to prevent evidence of the person's views or affiliations being used as evidence of biased intent:

Evidence of expression or associations of the defendant may not be introduced as substantive evidence at trial, unless the evidence specifically relates to that offense.

Unlike McDermott, Reichert didn't release a statement explaining his vote, so we can only guess what might be behind it. The vote might simply reflect the changing politics of his district.

Reichert represents a once rock-solid Republican district that has started to tilt away from the party as the GOP has been pulled father to the right by so-called "social conservatives." He faced a tough reelection challenge in 2006 from Democrat Darcy Berner who is expected to run against him again in 2008.

But we suspect there's more. According to Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the gay lobbyist group that has made the bill a primary element of its agenda, the measure was backed by "the National Sheriffs Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, 26 state attorneys general and the National District Attorneys Association." Reichert's long career as a beat cop in the King County Sheriff's Department, detective, and sheriff might actually have helped him understand this law better than some of his GOP colleagues and have helped him to see beyond the misleading talking points of the right-wing opponents of the law.

In a slide show on its legislative lobbying agenda for the 109th Congress, the sheriff's association stated

The National Sheriffs? Association remains concerned about the continuing rise in crimes committed against individuals because of bigotry. While the crime itself is perpetrated against one individual or group, the effect is felt throughout the entire community and Nation. If hate crimes persist, members of the targeted group will continue to live in fear and no American should have to live in fear of violent attack because of their ethnicity, religion or belief.

The law that was passed by the House last week would, in specified instances, give local cops more federal help in the often expensive investigation of hate crimes. The cops and prosecutors who investigate the crimes understand that long-established category of "hate crime" does not criminalize thought. It does, however, give them more resources to lock up those who commit overt acts of violence. As an ex-cop, Reichert is in a better position than many in Congress to understand that evidence of motive is one of the factors considered by investigators in any kind of assualt case and becomes a factor in making a distinction between, say, manslaughter and capital murder. Courts have shown themselves capable of making fine distinctions when considering evidence of bias as a complicating factor in an assault case.

One of Reichert's constituents, Redmond's anti-gay activist preacher Ken Hutcherson, joined with several other black pastors to lobby against the bill in the weeks before its passage. Because of a series of inexplicable snafus along the way -- like a lost cell phone that prevented a scheduled appearance on Rush Limbaugh's show -- Hutcherson didn't get much of the publicity he prays for during his lobbying visit to the capitol, but the other pastors who tried to paint the bill as an anti-pastor measure did get some fawning coverage.

The handful of black pastors joined with white evengelical leader Lou Sheldon and others to brand the measure as an "anti-free speech and anti-religion bill." The ever-wacky Sheldon also dubbed it the "Pro-Homosexual/Drag Queen Bill."

If passed and signed into law, it will be used to establish a legal framework to investigate, persecute and prosecute pastors, businessmen and others whose actions are based upon and reflect the truths found in the Bible. So-called ?hate speech? could become the target of zealous pro-homosexual federal prosecutors ? which could include a pastor?s sermon against homosexual behaviors!

The blogger Republic of T, explained at length and with chilling examples why the preachers were wrong.

Nothing in there about preaching. But, essentially, those black ministers and their white evangelical counterparts want to leave bias-crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity in a post-1964 state. ... There's nothing in either piece of legislation that would cause a minister to be dragged from the pulpit for anti-gay preaching, and anyone who says otherwise is either deluded or engaged in deliberate deceit.

The ministers and the rest who oppose the bill, and will likely cheer the president?s veto don?t have anything more to fear than the Ku Klux Klan, White Aryan Resistance, or any other hate group. They're still free to spout their hatred; as free as they ever were. There are consequences, as W.A.R and Tom Metzger found out in 1988, if their words include incitement to violence against a particular group, and those words lead to actions by those who received them. But, that's about it.

Residents of Reichert's district should thank him for seeing beyond the obfuscations offered for the past month by opponents of this bill.

Labels: ken hutcherson, politics, Washington

The Oregon Legislature passed a civil unions domestic partnership law this week that would grant to same-sex couples in the state virtually all of the state-granted benefits of marriage. The name was a subject of some controversy in the state (more on that later), but passage of the bill was greeted with warm fuzzies at the statehouse in Salem.

Advocates on the Senate floor cast HB 2007 in grand terms. Sen. Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, called the bill's passage "of historic significance as we make a giant leap forward for fairness."

Sen. Frank Morse of Albany, one of two Republicans to back the bill, said the day's vote would "define the heart of Oregon." Sen. Ben Westlund, D-Bend, said the Legislature's willingness to extend domestic partnership benefits represented a measure of its political will and courage. [Register-Guard]

Aisling Coghlan, interim executive director of Basic Rights Oregon (BRO) -- the activist group that served as primary lobbyist for the legislation, called the final legislative vote "a moral call that both the Senate and House have strongly answered and the Governor has pledged to meet."

Oregonians know too well the value of being able to protect our families--and this bill directly reflects that deeply held pro-family belief. Basic Rights Oregon applauds the Senators who voted in favor of basic fairness for all Oregon families, a value very much in step with the majority of Oregonians.

Oregon's law appears to deserve the strong words because, whatever its name, it appears to be indistinguishable from what are called civil unions in Vermont, other New England states, and New Jersey. It comes closer than either Washington's or California's limited domestic partnership laws to granting same-sex couples the full state-granted rights and obligations of marriage. (Like every other such law and even like marriages in Massachusetts, it cannot grant the many federal benefits of marriage to same-sex couples.)

The Oregonian explained the bill in a Q&A sidebar:

Q: What's a domestic partnership?
A: Domestic partnership, under the new Oregon law, is a legal contract recognizing the union of gay and lesbian couples. It grants them any "privilege, immunity, right or benefit" given to married couples in Oregon.
Q: How does a domestic partnership differ from a civil union?
A: There's no legal difference. Some states have chosen to call the same-sex contract a civil union; others, a domestic partnership.

Oregon couples would apply for a partnership certificate at a county clerk's office -- the same place marriage licenses are dispensed. (In contrast, Washington's DP certificates will be dispensed through the secretary of state's office and not through county courthouses.)

Adopting the name "domestic partnership" rather than "civil union" was controversial. A editorial in one of Portland's weeklies designated BRO and the bill's prime sponsor "Rogue of the Week" for accepting the change of terminology.

Five weeks ago, HB 2007 was a civil unions bill. But last week Kotek amended the bill to use the more poll-proven domestic partnership, borrowing a phrase from our neighbors to the south (California) and north (Washington passed it last week). New Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont call their same-sex couples civil unions.

"No matter what we call it, the reality is that we are getting a package of rights we've never had before,'' says Aisling Coghlan, BRO's interim executive director. "It's a historic victory that will change the lives of thousands of Oregon families."

Rebekah Orr, communications director for the House Democratic Majority, strongly agrees that the name change doesn't matter since the bill's effect remains the same and that name-change critics totally miss the point. At the same time, Orr, a former communications director for BRO, and others insist HB 2007 would have passed the Legislature if it carried the original civil-unions label.

Many took exception to the "Rogue" designation since its something Willamette Week usually reserves for people and groups that the paper's readers more clearly identify as scoundrels, but the name change still disappointed some.

The Oregonian Q&A offered one of the official explanations:

Q: The original Oregon bill called for civil unions. Why the shift in wording to domestic partnership in the legislation that passed?
A: Proponents opted for West Coast consistency (Washington and California have domestic partnership laws). They also decided that the term "domestic partnership," which is older, would be more familiar to Oregonians and more likely to win political support.

[For our part, we're all for "West Coast consistency". After all, most of us can pronounce the r's in "partner" which could be more of a problem in New England.]

The framers of the bill also omitted from the measure permission for religious folk to solemnize a partnership. With the changes, one major right-wing group in Oregon was willing to accept the law without promising an immediate ballot referendum to repeal it:

Nick Graham, spokesman for the conservative religious group the Oregon Family Council, said, "We have no plans at this point to run a referendum on HB 2007."

The group successfully pushed the 2004 gay marriage ban and lobbied against the 2005 civil unions bill.

Graham said his organization remained opposed to the bill, but wasn't planning to petition for a statewide vote because lawmakers provided opponents an opportunity to speak out against it and it differed from the 2005 version enough to soften some concerns. For instance, a minister cannot solemnize a domestic partnership, which was allowed under the civil unions bill. [Register-Guard]

Now, let's hope California's Supremes give Schwarzenegger cover to sign the same-sex marriage bill there and then we could really get to work on some West Coast consistency.

Labels: marriage equality, oregon, politics

Randall L. Tobias, a prominent and generous GOP donor who was given high-profile jobs in the Bush administration, resigned on Friday after being questioned by ABC News when his name turned up on a client list kept by a Washington, DC madam.

He admitted that he had hired call-girls from the firm run by "DC Madam" Pamela Martin. He insisted to ABC News that he had rented the call girls only for "massages" and that he had, umm... abstained from sex.

Tobias's latest formal title in the administration was "Deputy Secretary of State ." His job duties: director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

USA Today summarized his reponsibilities:

In his post, Tobias oversaw about $18 billion in U.S. foreign aid. He was put in charge of both USAID and named the State Department's first director of U.S. foreign assistance in an attempt to better coordinate aid.

USAID, an independent federal agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State, has nearly 8,000 employees in Washington and in its 80 missions around the world.

Prior to that, Tobias had served the ambassador for the Office of Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) -- the administration's so-called "AIDS czar."

Slate finds a tasty quote from FrontLine in which Tobias explained his primary strategy for fighting the global AIDS epidemic:

Well, the heart of our prevention programs is what's known as ABC: abstinence, be faithful, and the correct and consistent use of condoms when appropriate. ...

And it's also not "ABC: Take your pick." It's abstinence really focused heavily on young people and getting them to understand that the best way to keep from getting infected is to be abstinent and not engage in sexual activity until they are old enough and mature enough and get into a committed relationship, such as a marriage. B is being faithful within that committed relationship. And A and B, those two things together clearly had a huge impact in bringing the infection rates down in Uganda.

C recognizes the fact that there are individuals in high-risk circumstances who either by choice or by coercion are going to find themselves unable to follow A and B, and therefore they need to have access to condoms, and they need to understand the correct and consistent use of condoms.

When the Senate considered Tobias's nomination for the USAID post that he just resigned from a coalition of womens' health groups objected, and pointed out that he hadn't paid much attention to the "C" part of his acronym while he was AIDS czar:

"Under Ambassador Tobias' watch at OGAC, the U.S. has carried out a controversial approach to HIV prevention that goes far beyond any congressional mandate, by, among other things, limiting access to condoms even in generalized epidemics and hampering effective outreach to sex workers," stated Jodi L. Jacobson, Executive Director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE). "Because Tobias has shown himself vulnerable to pressure by the extreme right at OGAC we feel his nomination to head USAID at this critical moment is cause for great concern."

The women's groups also charged that OGAC under Tobias's leadership had closely aligned itself with right-wing US religious groups.

"Ambassador Tobias' willingness to foster an ideological agenda under OGAC raises serious questions about his treatment of other sensitive issues that will fall within his purview at USAID, such as broader reproductive health and family planning programs," stated Jacobson. ...

Before confirming him for this post, "the Senate must ensure that Ambassador Tobias is committed to non-partisan humanitarian aid programs that seek the best methods -- and use the best people -- to improve health and reduce poverty worldwide. Humanitarian aid programs should respond to needs of people, not politicians," Jacobson concluded.

The ABC News story that prompted the resignation notes that he got the jobs at least partly through his generosity to GOP politicians:

Along with his wife, Marianne, Tobias donated over $100,000 to Republican candidates and political committees, according to the campaign finance Web site OpenSecrets.org.

Of course, Secretary of State Condoleza Rice, who had praised Tobias's work earlier this month, announced that Tobias was leaving "for personal reasons."

Huffington Post commentator James Love surveyed activists who pointed out that Tobias was doing the work of the late GOP Congress and of fellow GOP contributors in his global abstinence policies. They noted, however, that he might also have been doing the work of his former employer, phama giant Eli Lilly, in other AIDS policies:

I asked friends who would know, "How much of the 'abstinence only' efforts at USAID were the fault of Tobias, and how much from the White House." The push for this policy, which is actually mandated by a Congressional requirement, came from Republicans in Congress, the White House and the religious right.

Activists give Tobias much more blame for efforts to protect big drug companies from competition from generic manufacturers of AIDS drugs, for example, by undermining the World Health Organization's program to certify generic AIDS drugs (the WHO pre-qualification program) and forcing U.S. taxpayers to unnecessarily pay top dollar for brand name AIDS drugs in PEPFAR treatment efforts. This policy has been poorly covered in the press, but it is far more consequential than Tobias' sex habits.

After a career at Indiana Bell and at AT&T -- where he rose to become vice-chairman, Tobias joined Eli Lilly in 1993 as CEO. He joined drug company during a boardroom crisis and was credited with saving the company and significantly boosting its stock price during his tenure.

In a story on Tobias's 2003 nomination to the AIDS office, which carried an ambassadorial rank and required Senate consent, the New York Times found AIDS activists who worried about his ties to Lilly and to religious right groups in Indiana.

The activists worry that he will spend tax dollars on patented American AIDS drugs at up to $15,000 a year instead of generic copies from India or Thailand for, say, $300. Or that he will let drug companies fill the need through donations, which cost nothing but give the companies huge tax write-offs while shutting out generic competitors so they can control prices elsewhere. The critics also worry that he will adopt the religious right stand that condoms do not work and abstinence does.

Friends in Indiana pointed out that Tobias had shared some of the vast wealth he had accumulated at Lilly with Indiana's largest AIDS service group.

Labels: news bites, politics