Floor speech prior to passage of HB 2661

“You already know my views on the issue. There are a couple of arguments that have been raised that I would like to address, especially those raised by the last speaker (Sen. Brad Benson, R-Spokane), who I think brings forward a lot of specters of things that could happen.

I think he mentioned a Pandora’s Box. Well, let me just suggest that in 1999 the City Council of Spokane adopted an ordinance that included sexual orientation within the purview of the local Human Rights Commission. A group of citizens came forward and said they didn’t like that, and tried to strike the ordinance down, and the citizens of Spokane upheld the ordinance.

And since 1999, no Pandora’s Box has been opened. There have been eight complaints – some of them based on hateful communication, some have been based on property damage. According to the Human Rights Commission, they have been resolved, some with the assistance of the Spokane Police Department. Not a single business has registered a formal complaint about being required to accommodate someone, in some unfortunate way that might have been raised here today.

So I think it just doesn’t wash that horrible things are going to happen when we pass this bill. I think it stands that, actually, life will go on pretty much the same for pretty much everyone in Washington state.

And I guess in some ways I agree the most with the senator from the 45th (District, Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, R-Kirkland) when he said that the thing is that you really, for the most part, unless someone chooses to share the information with you, know very little about each other’s sexuality or sexual orientation. And that is just fine with me.

What it really means is that sexual orientation is not related to the job that you do at work, to your ability to rent or buy a home, or to the financial practices that we engage in as a society. All we are really saying is that the sexual orientation is not relevant to those matters.

It doesn’t mean you should change your views about an individual’s sexual orientation. If you want to condemn it, you may condemn it. In your speech you are free to do that, you may speak about it, and write about it, and communicate with people about it. And I would stand for your right to always be able to express your view on it, and for children in schools to be able to express different points of view, as well, based on their beliefs.

And when the Human Rights Commission is told to go forth, they are not told to go forth and promote anything except good will and good relations among people, which of course I think should be something that we appreciate and desire for our state.

Above all, we don’t know, for the most part, the sexual orientation or the sexual practices of the adults we meet all the time, and pass on the street, and interact with every day. There are gay and lesbian Washingtonians sticking IVs in our arms, and serving us hamburgers at Dick’s. They are librarians and executives and legislative assistants in the Washington state Senate. They are our daughters, our sisters, our uncles and cousins, our friends and neighbors.

A good senator from the 6th (Sen. Brad Benson, R-Spokane) should know that we don’t know, I would not presume to say, and I do not believe that you know, about the immutability of the particular characteristic. We don’t really know about economic depravation or political powerlessness, because so many people are afraid to come forward with their sexual orientation. How would we even scientifically know that?

We do know however, because some people have been proud and dignified and respectful enough to be accepted, to come forward, to accept others. We do know that our gay and lesbian Washingtonian family, friends and neighbors have all kinds of jobs. They live in all kinds of houses. Yes, some are very nice houses, on the South Hill of Spokane. But some open their door and look out on the Palouse, in the most rural parts of our state. And some, sadly, are homeless. And they go to the Spokane Symphony, but they also go to the Cheney Rodeo. They go to church, they watch the Oscars, they root for the Seahawks. They serve our country. Gay and lesbian citizens died in 9/11, and are defending our country today in the armed services of this nation.

In closing, let me say that when the Senate takes a long time to decide an issue that is very controversial, as you can see, it is not because we don’t care. It’s because we care so much.

And it is fairly likely that the debate that we are having today has not changed the minds of the individuals who are about to vote. And ironically, we all know, that often, passing a law does not change someone’s mind or heart about an issue. On the other hand, interestingly enough when someone changes their mind, or changes their heart, that can change the law.

But as we go forward today, no matter what happens, some of us will walk away with a feeling of victory, perhaps a desire to have a celebration. And some of us will walk away in sorrow, in disappointment, perhaps even a feeling of defeat, or extreme sadness about what they might believe will occur.

I would just like to ask us, that as we walk away today, let us walk away with civility and respect for each other, respect for each other’s differences and for each other’s different point of view. Let’s walk away resolving to continue to find common ground to better the lives of the citizens of Washington state in the ways we believe we can best do that. And let us go forward with courage, with the courage to have a conversation, as we have had in a limited way today, with someone who does believe very differently than we do. It sometimes takes a lot of moral courage to have that kind of conversation.

Let’s go forward, not just here, but those who are listening, as well. Let’s all go forward and have such a conversation, because this will not be the end of this discussion. So let’s not mark it as the end of something. Let’s mark it as the beginning of going forward, of having those difficult conversations with our neighbors and our friends, and finding out what is in each other’s minds, and in each other’s hearts.”

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