GOP switch revives gay-rights bill

OLYMPIA – Washington’s lawmakers launched their 2006 session Monday, backed by a choir and a plea for political gentleness.

“Help them to be slow to anger and anchored in civility as they disagree with one another,” prayed Bob Sievers, pastor of an Olympia Baptist church.

At least for Democrats, it looks like one longtime prayer may be answered early. After more than 30 years of trying but failing to add gays and lesbians to the state law banning discrimination, Democrats learned Monday that a key Republican lawmaker says he has changed his mind and now will vote “yes.”

Since the bill failed by just one vote in the Senate last year, Sen. Bill Finkbeiner’s reversal suggests this might be the year the gay-rights bill will be passed.

“I took a hard look at this issue,” said Finkbeiner, a former Democrat who until recently was the top-ranking Republican leader in the Senate. “A lot of people really saw this as a debate about whether it was OK to be gay. I believe that there’s nothing wrong with being gay or lesbian.”

“What he’s doing is courageous. I personally can’t thank him enough for taking a hard vote,” said Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, one of several openly gay lawmakers in Olympia.

Murray is a longtime proponent of the bill, which he said was first introduced in 1974.

“It is perfectly legal to fire a gay person,” he said. “It is legal not to rent a home to a lesbian couple.”

State law already bans discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, having children, gender, marital status, age or disability. The law applies to employment, financial transactions, housing and real estate deals.

Within hours of Finkbeiner’s announcement Monday, Gov. Christine Gregoire said she will today introduce a new version of the bill that died last year. Passing it, she said, is one of her top priorities.

“We’ve already had hearings and floor debate, so we may be able to move very quickly,” said another longtime proponent, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane.

The bill has long been a target of Republicans, who managed to defeat it by teaming up with a few conservative rural Democrats.

“I just don’t think it’s something government needs to get involved in,” said Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville. “I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve voted against it.”

“I don’t want homosexuals to be discriminated against either, but are they discriminated against?” said Sen. Brad Benson, R-Spokane. In general, he said, statistics suggest that gays and lesbians have higher-than-average incomes and better-than-average homes and cars.

Benson predicts that such a law would pave the way to same-sex marriage, despite state law expressly stating that marriage can be only between a man and a woman.

“It would not take long, I think, before you get court-ordered homosexual marriage,” he said. (The constitutionality of the current law is already the subject of a Supreme Court case, with a ruling expected soon.)

Benson predicted that the switch will hurt Finkbeiner politically.

“The people who will be pleased by it will be the ones who wouldn’t vote for him anyway,” Benson said. He said Finkbeiner’s GOP base – the people who would knock on doors, put up signs and write campaign checks – “will be mad, and they’ll be mad in a big way.”

Finkbeiner recently stepped down as Senate minority leader, a move that spurred speculation that he was getting ready to change his vote on the controversial topic. He denied that Monday, saying that he stepped down for the reasons he stated at the time: He’s trying to get an MBA, run a business, and be a good dad to his two young children.

Finkbeiner said that he thinks he’s in step with his legislative district – Kirkland, Redmond, Woodinville and the Snoqualmie valley – on the issue. But he also thinks he’ll take some political hits.

“But at the end of the day, you have to do what you think is right,” he said.

Equal Rights Washington, which says it’s the state’s largest group for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people, is joining with the Religious Coalition for Equality to hold a rally in favor of the bill in Olympia on Jan. 23. The groups say they’ll bring thousands of people.

Murray said that odds of passing the bill are good, but he’s not celebrating yet.

“Every year that we think this bill will pass, something happens,” he said.

Other legislative news

•In the House of Representatives, opening day started with a salvo from Republicans, who called for immediate approval of a bill toughening penalties and restrictions for sex offenders. Among the changes: automatic life in prison for raping a child.

Democrats said that they, too, want to protect children. But they insisted on public input and hearings for the 116-page bill. Republicans’ proposal was voted down on a party-line vote, 42 to 55.

•A House budget committee rushed through a hearing on House Bill 2370, which is likely to be the first bill Olympia approves this year. It would steer $7.6 million into the state’s low-income energy assistance program. The cash – about $350 for 15,000 households – comes from a settlement between Qwest and the state. The bill also includes some winterization work for poor families.

The reason for the rush is simple, said Rep. Tami Green.

“It’s cold now,” she said.