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Art of Politics

"Appearing Soon..."

By Judy Osborne


A couple of weeks from now in Seattle we'll be seeing lots of ourselves on TV, though the images won't look too much like me and surely won't look anything at all like you. Here's the scene:

Fade in: A classroom appears filled with well-scrubbed, attractive fourth graders. The teacher is a large, saggy, beer-bellied man wearing a miniskirt, tank top, spike heels, huge boobs, and a wig resembling rat fur. The bottom of the tank top falls short of the skirt's waistband by a good eight inches of hairy flesh.

He speaks with a deep but lisping voice while writing his name on the board: "Class, today I've become a new person, and you will now address me as Miss Smith." He drones and flounces on while a voice-over reads: "Is this the kind of school you want for your children? If you enjoy seeing people like this teaching your kids, then vote yes on I-677 to give special rights to homosexuals, transvestites, perverts and child molesters. On the other hand, if you don't want scenes like this to take place in our schools, then vote no on I-677 to join the thousands of decent people who want our schools to continue teaching upright moral values."

You can use your imagination to come up with similar scenes for waitresses, nurses, receptionists, cab drivers, bureaucrats, bosses, and so on. Anyway, you get the idea. Sound like a disaster for us? Well, maybe not.

Tucked up here in the Northwest, as far away from the centers of power as we can get, we think of ourselves as not very influential in the national scene. That assumption is especially misguided when one is considering I-677, a pending ballot initiative in Washington state which would ban job discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transpeople. Washingtonians statewide will vote on the measure just five weeks from now.

A spotlight is turning our way to focus on the upcoming battle between homophobic religious-right forces and the sexual-minority communities. Numbers of local, regional and national organizations are choosing up sides.

Nobody thought we would get this far. Attitudes changed everywhere early in July when a Hands Off Washington caravan carried more than 229,000 signatures to Olympia to qualify I-677 for the November ballot. Even more attention turned on the issue when, against the advice of his friends, Mitch Fouchee arrived from North Carolina to run what is now a political campaign for I-677.
Mitch Fouchee

Mitch is a fascinating character. He works 18-hour days during campaigns, yet he always has time to talk with campaign workers in his soft southern accent as if you were the most important person in his world. Mitch is one of those campaign managers an aspiring senator just has to have on his side to get elected. He loves a challenge and cares deeply about this campaign. That's why the arguments of his friends fell on deaf ears.

The political campaign has a simple goal -- to generate a million votes in favor of I-677. King County voters must come up with 650,000 of these, so a great deal of effort is focused on this immediate area. Nevertheless, all of Hands Off Washington's thirty-two statewide coalitions are active and dedicated to bringing out the votes.

Any political campaign starts out with polling data as its guide. Hands Off's surveys were performed by Celinda Lake, pollster for the national Employment Non Discrimination Act and many other lesbian/gay efforts. She is highly respected.

Her polling data identified facts the public doesn't yet know about job discrimination and I-677. First and foremost, most people don't think we need job protection because they assume its already illegal to discriminate against us.

Further confusion results from misinformation spread around during earlier religious-right campaigns and additional misinformation the right is giving out now. Many voters have been left with the impression that I-677 is trying to create "special rights," employment quotas, gay marriage, tolerance of sexual abusers, inability to control the workplace, an attack on religion, and other smoke. Hands Off Washington's has strategies to counter such misinformation.

A "Faces" project is underway to demonstrate that job discrimination against glbt people exists and is perfectly legal in most parts of the state. The damage such discrimination exerts on people's lives is graphically illustrated.

Hands Off Washington is giving other facts to the public through a combination of free media, paid media, letters to the editor, direct mail, phoning, public events, newsletters and mailings by sympathetic organizations, and every other means possible.

The messages inform voters that we need protection against job discrimination just as much as racial and ethnic minorities and the disabled do, that churches and small businesses are exempted from the requirements of I-677, that employers will continue to be able to control their workplace with fair treatment to all, that nothing in the initiative would allow or sanction illegal behavior, that no quotas or "special rights" (whatever the term means) are being requested, and that gay marriage is an entirely separate issue.

Above all, the campaign is realistic. Ideals motivate the staff, but the nuts and bolts of securing enough votes to win attracts their energy. Coalitions are forming with labor, mainstream churches, industries, social support agencies, and political entities. They are providing endorsements, funding, volunteers, and helping spread facts to counter religious-right fiction.

Mitch Fouchee leads all this activity with a low key approach. Things just seem to happen when Mitch is around. For instance, Alveda King (Martin Luther King, Jr's niece) came to town recently to campaign against civil rights for gay people (Mitch says she's attempting to "use King's legacy to promote bigotry"). At about the same time, as if by magic, the pastors of the predominately-black Mount Zion and New Hope churches publicly stood up to support I-677. In close succession, King's widow, Coretta Scott King, commented on the national Employment Non- Discrimination Act by issuing a statement calling anti-gay job bias an "insidious form of discrimination."

Mitch doesn't necessarily arrange such happenings, and observers often can't figure out how the magic was done. People just seem to feel empowered and motivated, and events happen.

Many of Mitch's friends in the national gay power structure didn't want this initiative, fearing so visible a loss would set back the movement to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in Congress as well as other gay efforts. But Mitch "thought it took a lot of guts for this community to be willing to do this, to be proactive and not always be on the defensive. And I wanted to be part of that," he affirms. He feels the outcome of this vote will affect the national gay political effort for years to come. Now Mitch's friends are hearing from him again and sending money.

Mitch was only marginally aware of the transgender community before coming to Seattle. Recognizing that we're a visible component of I-677 which he would be called on to discuss and defend, he began learning about our people and issues. Since his arrival he has read on the subject, questioned every transperson he can find, even attended and participated in a Friday night transgender group session at the Ingersoll Gender Center.

Mitch inherited most of the superb team that brought us through the signature campaign. Other talented staffers have signed on just for the political campaign, and the office is humming. Volunteers are everywhere, some working 20 or more hours a week along with their regular jobs. More are needed.

A number of national lesbian/gay and other progressive organizations are coming in to help now that we have enough signatures on our petitions to qualify I-677 for November's ballot. These organizations recognize the impact this unique initiative will have on the entire country now and in the future when the Congress is considering further legislation.

Urvashi Vaid visited Seattle recently to talk with us about I-677. Vaid is the former director of the National Lesbian and Gay Task Force, author of the groundbreaking book Virtual Equality, and a highly-respected crusader for gay and women's equality. She's also a powerful and exciting speaker.

Vaid told us that teaching tolerance is controversial. She said that "mostly we've been on the defensive" but that I-677 represents a unique opportunity to do something proactive that represents "choices and freedom."

Vaid spoke to an I-677 fund- raiser breakfast. As quoted in Seattle Gay News (9/12/97), she told the gathering that the greatest threat to passage of I-677 is not the external opponent but rather the internal voice of fear. "It is the voice inside that says: I'm afraid this isn't going to pass. I'm afraid we're going to lose the ground we've gained. I'm afraid of the backlash. I'm tired. I'm not political. This isn't going to do anything for me."

She gave us perhaps our best inspiration when she told us that the voices of fear will be silenced when we remember that I-677 is motivated by love and the will to free gay/ lesbian/ transgender brothers and sisters from discrimination and bigotry. "It is motivated by love, by compassion and our commitment to each other."


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