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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