Live from the Nuke Free Zone

The State of Washington recently passed a bill. Its opponents, infuriated, are vowing to push a referendum this fall to see it overturned. What does the bill do?

State law bans discrimination based on race, sex, religion, marital status, disability and other categories. The bill, which takes effect 90 days after adjournment, adds sexual orientation to that list.

So… good, God-fearing Christians, devoted to bringing the world peace and love, have decided to spend their energies this year fighting to overturn a law against discrimination.

Fighting for their right to hate. Or, more precisely, because the law can’t take away your right to hate, fighting for their right to act on that hate to exclude the targets of that hate from the benefits of law and society.

They have a serious chance of winning. In 1997, 60 percent of Washington voters voted against a ballot measure similar to this bill. And often, gay-rights measures like this motivate large numbers of conservatives to the polls, skewing the results of other elections like the mid-term Congressional races. I urge Washingtonians who care about nondiscrimination and equal protection under the law to get active in the campaigns this year and see that this bill remains the law of the state.