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Who will stand up for gay rights? Anyone?
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| Contributor | Ralphie |
| Last Edited | Ralphie Apr 11, 2005 09:17am |
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| Category | Opinion |
| Media | Newspaper - Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| News Date | Monday, April 11, 2005 03:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Someone has to stand up for a gay civil rights bill in Washington.
Who better to fill that role than the Democrats -- the party of the people, the party of social conscience?
In fall 2003, the party leadership went before a Seattle gathering of gays and lesbians at "Fighting for the Majority," a fund-raiser to benefit Democrats in the state House and Senate.
Lisa Brown, the Senate Democratic minority leader at the time, spoke at the fund-raiser on Capitol Hill. Bill Dubay, a Seattle gay rights activist who was at the event, says he heard Brown make this vow: If Democrats gain a majority in the House and Senate, we will put your civil rights bill on the governor's desk.
One top lawmaker, though, says Dubay heard it wrong -- that Brown promised to put a gay civil rights bill on the floor for a vote.
Either way, two years later, Democrats have dropped the ball.
The Democrats rule the House. Democrats control the Senate by a slim margin. They have even got their candidate, Christine Gregoire, in the governor's mansion.
Yet despite this, two conservative Democrats in the Senate joined Republicans last week to derail a civil rights bill that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The lawmakers' finagling made it possible for the proposal to go to a hostile committee in the Legislature where, barring a miracle, it will die.
No bill on the governor's desk. No bill on the floor. |
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