Initiative 677 -- Gay-Rights Issue Loses; Foes See An Opening

For gay leaders, placing the Initiative 677 gay-rights measure before voters was a roll of the dice. Win, and workplace discrimination against gays would become illegal in the state. But lose, and it might energize conservatives to renew attacks on gay rights.

Nevertheless, gay-rights advocates, tired of fighting off attacks from the right, and heartened by national polls showing support for anti-discrimination laws for gays when it comes to employment, went ahead with the initiative. And were trounced.

The measure failed overwhelmingly yesterday, losing in every county in the state except King and San Juan counties.

And moments after claiming victory in fending off I-677, conservatives went on the attack, saying the initiative showed Washington voters do not believe gays are entitled to an expansion of their rights.

Robert Larimer, spokesman for a coalition of conservative groups who opposed the initiative, said it would fuel the passage in the Legislature next year of a law barring gay marriages.

"When you see a margin this big, it's sending a powerful message to the Legislature that they should continue to refuse bestowing special status for sexual behavior," Larimer said.

"It should encourage the Legislature to once again pass `defense of marriage' legislation," he said. "And it should send a couple of strong signs to our governor that he should not veto it."

Gov. Gary Locke, a vocal supporter of I-677, angered

conservatives earlier this year by vetoing a gay-marriage prohibition.

Gay leaders downplayed yesterday's defeat, saying it did not necessarily reflect animosity toward homosexuals. Rather, Lori Jinkins, board president of the gay-rights group Hands Off Washington, said unique political forces worked against the measure.

Most significantly, she said, the more than $2 million spent by the National Rifle Association against the Initiative 676 gun-control measure turned out gun-rights advocates who, according to a Seattle Times Washington Poll, overwhelmingly opposed the gay-rights measure.

"Guns clearly brought out the `no' votes," Jinkins said.

She said the campaign also had trouble convincing voters that job discrimination against gays really is illegal in the state, and that the initiative was necessary.

"Our early polling showed that 30 percent thought it was already illegal in the state, and our biggest challenge has been getting the word out that it isn't illegal," Jinkins said.

The measure would have added sexual preference to state civil-rights laws, which already bar workplace discrimination based on age, race, gender, and religion. Though some cities, like Seattle, already have similar ordinances, gays have no job protection elsewhere in the state.

The initiative campaign apparently failed to convince enough people that job discrimination isn't already barred. In the Times poll, a sizable number said they opposed the initiative because gays are already protected by civil-rights law.

Actually, the initiative's defeat creates a curious stalemate over gay rights in the state. Initiative drives in 1994 and 1995 to restrict gay rights, bar teaching about homosexuality in schools and prohibit homosexual couples from adopting children failed to garner enough signatures to make the ballot.

The Times poll also found that a large number agreed with opponents' argument that sexual orientation was different from race, age, gender or religion, which are protected in state civil-rights laws.

In a last-minute advertisement that appeared in the state's newspapers Monday, former Seattle Seahawk Steve Largent said sexual orientation, unlike the others, was a choice. And, he said, giving it civil-rights protection would be granting gays "special rights."

"I-677 isn't about fairness, it's about special rights," said Largent's "letter" to voters. "I-677 goes too far in trying to extend civil rights protections to behaviors and lifestyles that are controllable, and creates special rights for choices that some people have made in defining their sexual identity."

Despite their best efforts to downplay the vote, the defeat was a devastating one for the gay community, which spent about $750,000 on the campaign.

Gays saw the measure as their best opportunity to gain civil rights. It was intentionally focused narrowly on workplace discrimination. Although a Newsweek poll last year found that most people do not support gays being allowed to live anywhere they please, two-thirds said their sexual orientation shouldn't interfere with their ability to make a living.

But yesterday, even the limited measure failed. And at a pro-initiative party on Seattle's Capitol Hill, as the returns brought no sign of a swing, eyes watered, and the crowd gradually slipped away.

Kery Murakami's phone message number is 206-464-2775. His e-mail address is: kmur-new@seatimes.com