After 29 years, proponents of a statewide discrimination ban based on sexual orientation can finally declare victory. This is a proud moment for the state. But, sadly, the battle may not be over.

Today, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire is scheduled to sign the human rights bill that was adopted by the Washington state Legislature on Friday. Sexual orientation will join race, color, creed, age, marital status and disabilities as categories that are protected against discrimination in areas of employment, housing, finance and public accommodations.

But for some, 29 years of debate isn’t enough. On Monday, Tim Eyman filed an initiative and a referendum to get the law repealed. If he can gather enough signatures for either, the issue will be put to voters.

In a prepared statement, Eyman said, “The people oppose important public policy changes being made without voter approval. The voters want an open debate where both sides are given the opportunity to have their voices heard and to persuade the voters on the issues involved.”

First, state lawmakers make a lot of important changes each year. It’s among the leading reasons we elect them. Second, this human rights debate has been going on in Olympia since 1977. All of the arguments have been heard … over and over.

If Eyman were serious about public votes on all important policy issues, he would be filing initiatives weekly. If he and his supporters were serious about wanting voters to decide this, they wouldn’t have waited so long. If they were serious about open debate, they would’ve decried the fact that the state Senate had repeatedly squelched such bills.

If you still believe Eyman is honestly motivated by his public pronouncements, ask yourselves this: Would he have gotten involved if the Legislature had voted the other way?

There are no new arguments on this issue, just old fears. And all of the doomsday scenarios painted by opponents about such bans have yet to materialize. The Spokane City Council adopted a ban in 1999. All of the debating points invoked today were invoked back then. Still, opponents filed Proposition 4, and the issue was put to voters, who wisely upheld the ban.

Bans are in place in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Pullman, Vancouver and Des Moines. They also exist in Clallam, Clark and King counties. Has life fundamentally changed for those who opposed them? What, precisely, have they lost? There’s no reason to believe that extending the reach of anti-discrimination laws statewide will be any different.

Some lawmakers feared the bill was paving the way for gay marriage or ratifying a lifestyle, so it was amended to note that the state is not endorsing any “belief, practice, behavior or orientation.”

Though you wouldn’t know it from the debate, the new law is not complicated. It isn’t granting a special right. It isn’t coercing schoolchildren. It isn’t forcing anyone to change their beliefs or pack up their Bibles.

It simply says that when discrimination based upon sexual orientation arises, the state will take the side of justice. Finally.