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Sadness in Seattle

By Judy Osborne

Ed. Note: Washington State Initiative I-677 was the nation's first attempt at banning job discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. Billed by opponents as a "special rights" law, it failed in an election held on Nov. 4

The ambiance was exciting, surrounded by scads of ancient automotive kitsch in Seattle's Petroleum Museum. Televisions blared as we awaited the results of the vote.

The event felt like a reunion. Everybody was there. All the signature gatherers who had stood on street corners with us. Our fellow envelope-stuffers whose lives had been revealed to us as together we folded and pasted. The other phone solicitors with whom we swapped stories when we couldn't stand any more rejection. Hands Off Washington board members who argued for transgender inclusion almost a year ago. Politicians, big donors, public personas, HOW staff, strangers, reporters and TV cameras.

HOW Executive Director Jan Bianchi said hi and revealed that our prospects were "iffy". I had been away three weeks and didn't know.

Results began to trickle in. We were losing. Self-appointed spin doctors analyzed why the first results didn't mean anything. Camera lights crisscrossed the room like spotlights in the sky at a Hollywood opening. The crowd swelled. People made speeches praising I-677 and thanking the many who had helped.

The vote tallies became more difficult to explain in our favor, and the optimists faded away. Not wanting to give up, many of us retired to corners and talked quietly with friends. Eventually the conversations came around to the topic that absorbed us all.

As we had feared, a massive amount of National Rifle Association money poured into Washington State to defeat another initiative which would have required trigger locks on guns. The NRA money and organizing effort brought out almost every gun enthusiast in the state, who together took down the measure by more than two to one. By smaller margins they voted down all the other initiatives, including the one which would have outlawed job discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people.

During a lull in our conversation we looked up to find the cameras gone and the crowd diminished. Soon we too faded into the night.

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