A Curious Eye

Why President Obama’s Support of Marriage Equality Might Make the Difference in Washington State

by PAUL CONSTANT

Whenever the president of the United States comes to Seattle, there’s always a swarm of looky-loos standing around, trying to get a glimpse, to say they were in the immediate proximity of a man who has made history. Our presidential audiences have often been angry, occasionally been giddy, and frequently been packed full of people obsessed with some vague plan to forward their own personal agenda. But President Obama’s speech at the Paramount last Thursday drew a very different crowd: It was a battalion of happy people out to demonstrate their gratitude.

People carrying signs and banners thanked President Obama for his announcement the day before that he “think[s] same-sex couples should be able to get married.” There was something more to the waves of adulation than simple gratitude for his supportive statements, though. As Washington State prepares for Referendum 74, a gay-marriage vote that will likely appear on the fall ballot, many revelers believed President Obama may have handed the pro-marriage-equality, approve-R-74 forces the leverage they need to win.

Josh Friedes, the marriage equality director for Equal Rights Washington, calls President Obama’s statement “a game-changer,” because it has generated or will generate “hundreds of thousands of conversations in Washington.” He explains that because of the president’s announcement, gay marriage dominated the news cycle for 72 hours last week and is still a major topic in the national conversation. What this means, he says, is that “at the water cooler, and at Starbucks, and at barbecues, and at churches, people are going to be talking about marriage equality.” When the public talks about marriage equality, Friedes says, marriage equality wins.

The numbers back him up.

Alison Peters cites a poll of 600 Washington voters that her firm, Alison Peters Consulting, performed in June 2011. It was a watershed moment for marriage equality in Washington because it was the first poll in which a majority of voters supported gay marriage—55 percent of likely voters approved marriage equality—but a discovery that Peters made over the course of the poll was even more meaningful.

It comes down to this: Talking about gay marriage greatly increases your chances of supporting marriage equality. Only 34 percent of voters who’ve never had a conversation about gay marriage support it. But 56 percent of all voters who have talked about gay marriage with a straight person support marriage equality. And even more impressive: 69 percent of all voters who have had a conversation about marriage equality with a gay person support marriage equality. All together, two-thirds of voters who have had a conversation about marriage equality support it. They’ve been forced to think through their position. That “swing of 35 points” (from 34 to 69 percent) between people who have and haven’t had a conversation, Peters says, “is staggering from a statistical standpoint.”

Keep reading at TheStranger.com

When it is done well - with inclusion, affordability, environmental and cultural sensitivity, and attention togreat placemaking- few things are as good for our communities as reinvestment in aging neighborhoods. It’s the ultimate win-win-win:improving environmental quality and people habitat while absorbing new development without sprawl. I am pleased to report that I have found another fantastic-looking example to add to my list of favorites. 

I suppose I should no longer be surprised whengreat, environmentally sensitive community-building comes out of the Pacific Northwest, but I can still be impressed. If you’re looking for exemplary revitalization with new, first-class green infrastructure, community facilities and mixed-income housing, take a look at what’s happening inthe Sunset district of Renton, Washington, a city of about 90,000 people south of Seattle. (Renton was once home to none other than Jimi Hendrix, and is still home to a giant - 10,000 on-site employees - Boeing aircraft manufacturing facility.)

Republican Senators blocked a Democratic bill yesterday thatwould have kept interest rates on federal college loans from doublingcome July. Yet one more blow to students who have seen tuition rates skyrocket at public universities nationwide as states struggle to close Great Recession induced budget gaps.

Here in Washington the defunding of public universities has been particularly awful, resulting in four years of double-digit tuition increases. At the University of Washington the Class of 2013 paid tuition and fees totaling $6,802 for their 2008-2009 freshman academic year; their senior year will cost them $12,385, an 82 percent increase over four years. That’san average annual tuition hike of 16.2 percent a year(or 20.5 percent “every single year” inMcKenna Math™) over a four-year period when Washington’s median household income has actually fallen.

But more than just a cyclical blip this shift in the burden of paying for higher education from society as a whole to the individual students has been both dramatic and generational. In 1990 the state picked up over 70 percent of the cost of a college degree; it now subsidizes less than 30 percent. And the longer one looks back in time the starker and more profound the unraveling of this particular social contract appears.

Keep reading at Slog.TheStranger.com

Last week was the Day of Silence. A few words to those who participated: This day is supposed to be difficult. You should struggle. You should be frustrated. This day is about being audacious, defiant and most of all, empathetic. You are an important proponent of change andyou matter. Anyone can participate in the Day of Silence, but the only person you can change is yourself. You have the power to be not just a better person, but anamazing human being.

Anyone can participate in the Day of Silence, but the only person you can change is yourself.

I have been organizing the Day of Silence since I was in the 7^thgrade. I started with a bundle of crumpled flyers underneath my arm, awkwardly written, that were painfully tossed into garbage cans when given out. Over the years, I have accumulated morewisdomand experienced more much moreheartbreakin concurrence with this event.

One cannot convince a student to stop being homophobic or transphobic overnight. We have been influenced by systems and institutions of oppression that teach us, from a young age, to celebrate that which is heteronormative and gender binary. As an activist, I cannot just scream the same, ineffective message to my peers that they have heard their entire lives; “Don’t be a bully”.

Keep reading and watch the video at GLSEN.org

A synopsis of feedback from the events is available below and at the project website: waterfrontseattle.org.

Common themes included:

• Design the waterfront for pedestrians – safety, amenities and connections
  • Ensure access points for all levels of mobilityand need along the waterfront
• Make the waterfront a mix of places to gather and“be quiet,” and places to run, play and be active
  • Include destinations for play and outdoor activities in all seasons
  • Create spaces that have multiple uses and can adapt to the weather, wide range of activities throughout the year
• Show artists at work, and include art that is interactive and evolving
  • Integrate spaces for artists to work along the waterfront
  • Create opportunities for performance art
  • Capture Seattle’s history, culture and uniqueness in the design of the waterfront
• Provide opportunities to interact with and see in-water and upland habitat
  • Blend urban and natural habitat into the overall waterfront experience
  • Incorporate stormwater management , including bioswales and/or rain gardens
  • Include  educational opportunities to learn about marine life and urban ecology
• Create a shoreline edge with access to beaches, tide pools, and places to walk and sit along the water

While I was home for spring break, I wrote a letter to the editor praising our local state senator for her vote in support of marriage equality. I went further and argued against putting marriage on the november ballot, and asked voters to approve marriage if the measure did make it on.

Anyway, they printed it! It’s the third letter down titled “Thanks to Sen. Cheryl Pflug for voting her conscience.” The second one down titled “Same-Sex Marriage” is also worth a read. 

Washington United for Marriage is a coalition of organizations, congregations, unions, and businesses working together to secure civil marriage for loving, committed same-sex couples in Washington State. The message from the campaign has been consistently translucent since inception: share your stories.

One man has taken the instruction to heart – quite literally.

With the understanding that Referendum 71 supporters would organically transition into Referendum 74 supporters, Paul Thomasson sent a personal appeal letter to 2,009 of the Referendum 71 signatories. 

Below is Thomasson’s unedited explanation of why he chose this route to express his life to same-sex marriage opponents.

Read More- TheSeattleLesbian.com

Proponents of gay marriage, who traditionally frame the cause as a matter of equality and civil rights, are increasingly invoking something else: family. And the tactic seems to be working.

In February three state legislatures passed statutes making gay marriage legal, and in each case the appeal to family connections was a central feature.

“We need to ask ourselves: How would it feel to be a child of a gay couple?” asked Washington’s Democratic governor, Chris Gregoire, who signed the state’s legislation Feb. 13 after having announced her support for it a month earlier. “How can we tell these children that their parents’ love is seen as unequal under Washington law?”

A Washington state lawmaker who voted for the bill recalled her own marriage. “I was married for 23 years to the love of my life and he died six years ago,” said Republican Rep. Maureen Walsh in a video that went viral. “How could I deny anyone the right to have that incredible bond with another individual in life?”

In New Jersey, 15-year-old Madison Galluccio told state lawmakers debating same-sex marriage what it’s like being the adopted daughter of two gay dads.

“A lot of people think that my family is different,” she testified before an Assembly committee. “You gave us a civil union. I don’t know what that is…. It’s very hard for me to explain to my friends. It’s very hard that I can’t tell them, ‘Oh yeah, I have gay dads and they’re married just like your parents.’ But they’re not.”

Read More

Gay-marriage opponents have said there will be a rash of civil suits against individuals and businesses that don’t want to provide wedding-related services to same-sex couples because of their religious beliefs. Our Truth Needle concludes that claim is mostly false.

Read More 

ThinkProgress has learned that Christie has yet to respond to a letter from fellow Governor Chris Gregoire (D-WA) offering the blunt-speaking Christie advise on the issue.

In the letter, dated Jan. 31, 2012, Gregoire wrote, “I have been on a personal journey, because while I am a Governor, I am also a Catholic.” “If you would like to talk, please give me a call.” The correspondence also contained a copy of Gregoire’s remarks upon announcing her support for marriage equality. Gregoire has received “no response to date,” her office confirms.

National Organization for Marriage acts as though it is above the law. And now NOM is coming to Washington.

Brian Brown, President of NOM

It has become a predictable pattern. NOM slinks into a state that is actively debating marriage equality, drops a mountain of cash into the campaign coffers of the anti-gay side, then breaks state campaign disclosure laws by bolting before reporting their political involvement or the identities of their donors to the state.

Campaign disclosure laws serve the public interest by helping the electorate “follow the money” to see who is trying to influence their voting decisions. NOM doesn’t want anyone to know who is behind its anti-gay crusade.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Wednesday’s historic Senate vote to approve same sex marriage has energized supporters, but it has also caused a backlash for some of the lawmakers who voted in favor of the bill.

Officials from the state information office said just prior to Wednesday’s vote, 2,300 calls flooded into the state capitol, with most of the calls opposing gay marriage.

“There have been some fairly profane and angry kinds of communications to members,” said Sen. Lisa Brown, a Democrat who was one of the 28 members who voted in favor of the bill.

The state patrol said there haven’t been any death threats since the vote, but a lot of people are fired up.

“I’ve gotten some pretty negative phone calls,” said Sen. Kevin Ranker.

Ranker, whose father is gay, gave an impassioned speech on Wednesday in favor of same sex marriage.

“As with any issue that is this passionate, people’s response when it doesn’t go the way they want, is also passionate,” Ranker said.

KENNEWICK After 36 years of celebrating anniversaries and Valentine’s Days, of arguments and make-ups, of raising children and growing old, Larry Gettmann and Jack Frisch of Kennewick can’t think of themselves as anything other than “married.”

It doesn’t really matter to them how the state or any church describes them. The only validation they need for their relationship comes from each other.

But soon, Washington likely will confirm in law what Gettmann, 69, and Frisch, 71, already know in their hearts. They are one of almost 10,000 couples registered as domestic partners whose relationships will be re-defined as marriage under a bill pending in the state Legislature.

“It’s huge. It’s great,” Gettmann said. “Coming from a place where the public didn’t know anything about gay people to where we’re talking about marriage for gay people is a big thing. I had no idea it would come around in 30 years or less.”

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/02/05/1814628/gay-marriage-in-washington-creates.html#storylink=cpy

Gov. Christine Gregoire has joined the Americans for Marriage Equality video series from the Human Rights Campaign as Washington stands poised to become the seventh state to recognize equal rights for same-sex couples. 

HRC released the 36-second spot online Thursday, the day after the Washington State Senate passed the marriage equality bill in a 28-21 vote with support from four Republicans. The bill is expected to pass the House next week, and Governor Gregoire intends to sign it into law. 

“As governor, I believe the state of Washington cannot be in the business of discrimination,” says Gregoire in the video. “As an American, a wife and mother, marriage equality is fair, just, and right. And it is time.”