Voters Like Gay-Rights Concept, But Divided On Making It Law Backers Of Initiative 677 Face An Uphill Battle, Pollster Says

Washington voters overwhelmingly think it’s wrong to fire someone because that person is homosexual.

The vast majority think a landlord should not be able to refuse a renter who is gay or lesbian.

They think homosexuals should receive the same protection from discrimination as people of religious, ethnic or national minorities do.

But they are evenly split on a statewide initiative that seeks to put those concepts into law.

Supporters of Initiative 677 face an uphill battle in the two weeks before the Nov. 4 election, said Del Ali of Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc.

The Maryland-based company conducted a scientific survey for The Spokesman-Review and KHQ-TV on the attitudes of Washington voters. The survey showed a vast gulf between the voters’ views on homosexual rights and their support for the initiative.

One voter in five was still undecided about the initiative.

That’s a danger sign for initiative supporters because voters who remain undecided generally will vote against it, said Ali, who has been polling in the state for five years.

“Is this gay bashing? No,” Ali said. “Are Washington voters homophobic? No.”

But voters may think the initiative offers special rights rather than equal rights, he said.

“Maybe they think it opens up the door to go beyond (their beliefs), that it’s actually a type of affirmative action,” he said.

Suzanne Thomas, the initiative’s sponsor, says she believes the ballot wording may confuse some voters.

The proposal would prohibit discrimination “without requiring employee partner benefits or preferential treatment.” While the initiative would not require employers to extend benefits, some people think it would.

“People sometimes get tripped up on that ‘without requiring’ phrase,” Thomas said.

She said a new set of commercials will begin airing this week emphasizing one of the poll’s findings - that voters strongly support equal employment rights for gays and lesbians.

“Right now in Washington state, it’s perfectly legal to fire someone who’s gay,” Thomas said. “That message moves people to our side.”

A spokesman for No Official Preferential Employment, the campaign against the initiative, said he is happy the poll shows essentially a dead heat on the proposal.

“I think that’s pretty good when we’re being outspent 10-to-1,” said Bob Larimer. “It shows there’s a lot of common sense.”

He said he isn’t surprised that people support employment and housing rights because “what American person favors discrimination?”

The idea that the initiative offers special rights is “the message we’ve been trying to get out to folks,” Larimer said. “But I’m not discounting the power of the homosexual lobby and its slick advertising.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: How we feel about gay rights