Value Fair Play, Not Foul; Pass 677

Homosexuality is controversial. Fairness isn’t.

And Initiative 677 is about fairness more than it’s about homosexuality.

The initiative, which will be on the Nov. 4 general election ballot, simply says employers, unions and job placement agencies can’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

Under current state law they can. Opponents of the initiative know that, and they want to keep it that way.

Advocates of fairness, regardless of whether they approve of homosexuality, believe a worker should not be discriminated against because of differences that are irrelevant to the job.

When the Washington Association of Churches endorsed Initiative 677, a spokesperson noted that ending discrimination is an issue of morality. The association did not endorse homosexuality; it endorsed fairness.

Going against fairness is a hard sell. Which is why opponents of the proposal are campaigning against homosexuality instead. They trample truth and feast on fear.

But Initiative 677 is brief and straightforward.

It creates no special rights. It grants no exemption, for example, from codes of dress or conduct that apply to others.

Section 5 of the initiative does exempt nonprofit religious organizations and businesses with fewer than eight employees.

Section 4 spells out that employers are not required to provide benefits to a homosexual employee’s partner.

Initiative 677 provides only what its backers contend, what the 225,000 people who signed the petition want and what the Washington Association of Churches and other supporters have invoked: fairness and morality.

A fair society recognizes that individuals vary in myriad ways. Some of those differences - sexual orientation, for instance - will inspire wrenching debates. But a fair society will let those differences be worked out on their merits, not be squeezed and manipulated by the use of majority muscle power against the legal choices of the outnumbered.

The social debate over homosexuality may be waged for ages to come. There really isn’t any debate over fairness, however. Proposals such as Initiative 677 merely reaffirm it.

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