Date: Sat, 16 Jul 1994 12:39:19 -0700 (PDT) From: Richard Isaac This Op-Ed piece appeared in the _Seattle Post-Intelligencer_, Saturday July 16, 1994, page A7, under the "Soapbox" format (opinions submitted by P-I readers). All typos are mine; sections in [brackets] indicate text which appeared in the original but _not_ in the newspaper. The P-I is the morning daily in Seattle, and has a statewide circulation. * Richard Isaac __*_*___ ************************* \* * / Seattle * INITIATIVES 608/610 * *\ * * b. 1/10/94 d. 7/8/94 * ***\**/** rmisaac ************************* \/ @eskimo.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BIGOT BUSTERS BATTLE ORWELLIAN INITIATIVES by Richard Isaac and Chris Smith [and Bruce Stores] George Orwell should have called his book "1994." The failed anti-gay-rights initiatives, 608 and 610, represented an Orwellian, upside-down world. They represented a world where equal rights for all is called "special rights" for some, but where second-class citizenship is called "equal rights"; where ignorance, fear and prejudice are elevated to the law of the land, and self-defense is called "intimidation"; where affirming the human dignity of all "dilutes" that of others; where some Americans "deserve" civil rights more than others, and those others must prove their worthiness to self-appointed judges; where civil rights must be rationed. They represented a world where a small minority can put the civil rights of another minority up for a popular vote; where abridging constitutional rights is called "the will of the people," but where defending them is called "undemocratic." They called for a world where competent people are fired from their jobs and good tenants are thrown onto the streets with no legal recourse; where censoring the free exchange of ideas down to one point of view is called "neutrality"; where people who claim no interest in others' sexual orientation would have Big Brother (the state) investigate their friends' sexual behavior should they get divorced; where "family values" rhetoric means stripping children from fit parents and loving homes. They represented a world where people who fight inclusion of gays and lesbians in civil-rights protections claim we're already covered; where discrimination against and hatred of gays and lesbians runs rampant, but it is claimed it doesn't exist; where people who would abridge others' civil rights claim theirs are being abridged by those who object; where polite interaction is "harassment" and where vilifying a whole class of people with falsehoods and stereotypes is fair play; where those pushing modern-day Nuremburg Laws call their targets "brownshirts" and the "Gestapo." [Where those who demand respect give none to others.] [Where pious people feel no shame distorting and inventing facts, spreading rumors, and printing fallacious garbage too graphic even for the press. Where people who claim to love the sinner and hate the sin call others "the scum of the earth." Where the Ten Commandments only go up to eight. Where the Golden Rule does not apply.] I-608 and I-610 were born in untruths. If the leaders of those campaigns had accurately and truthfully represented their initiatives to the people, there would never have been a need for Bigot Busters. Bigot Busters, a group of dedicated, unpaid volunteers, formed to defend lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people against the discriminatory and demataory nature of I6-608 and I-610 by presenting truthful and accurate information to Washington voters. [Bigot Busters *is* what the P-I called "citizen politics."] Bigot Busters is part of the initiative process, democracy in action. Our goal has been to talk -- in a non-confrontational way -- to those wishing to listen. It is simply common sense that polite and reasoned interaction is the best way to reach the hearts and minds of anyone with an open mind. Our well-documented training materials and videotaped training sessions demonstrate that this was our guiding principle. Furthermore, no proof of the accusations against Bigot Busters has been offered, since none exists. No one seems to have bothered to press I-608 for evidence. [In fact, while doing our work, many potential signers thatnked us for clearly providing our view and clarifying the issues at stake, while petitioners harassed *us* for exercising our free speech rights.] Still, some have swallowed the right-wing canard that Bigot Busters acted improperly, including Secretary of State Ralph Munro, and some journalists and editorialists (this newspaper among them). [It comes as no surprise to us that self-righteous zealots might have felt intimidated by dedicated persons who have the nerve to act in defense of their own civil rights. But as Rev. John Boonstra of the Washington Association of Churches said, "The first step in the initiative process is the decision whether to sign... Dialogue is in no way intimidation -- dialogue is at the heart of the democratic process."] Bigot Busters was targeted by the opposition because of our effectiveness in refuting their lies and distortions, and because their message failed to win the support of Washingtonians. Their unfounded accusations are a desperate attempt to lay blame anywhere but at the real source of their failure -- their misguided message of discrimination, intolerance and prejudice. It has been suggested that it is a "right" to vote on any initiative put forward. In fact, this is aright only for those initiatives that can demonstrate support from 181,667 registered voters by the deadline. It is the right of citizens to sign initiatives and Bigot Busters never disputed or interfered with initiatives 608's and 610's right to collect signatures, nor with anyone who wished to sign the initiatives. It has also been suggested that this is an issue to be settled at the ballot box and not in the "technicality-trimmed" courts. The Constitution is not a technicality. And the ballot box is no place to put up the constitutional rights of an unpopular minority. Legal challenges and citizen self-defense withing the confines of the law are entirely apprpriate. Washington voters are to be congratulated for having rejected the Orwellian, upside-down world presented by initiatives 608 and 610. The credit goes to them and to the borad spectrum of individuals and organizations that mobilized to oppose discrimination and ignorance with grass-roots, democratic activism. --- Richard Isaac and Chris Smith are members of the Bigot Busters Steering Committee. Soapbox colums are contributed by P-I readers. --end of quoted material --