(Wash.) Senate thwarts gay-rights bill

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/219008_discrimination06.html

By CHRIS McGANN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT

OLYMPIA -- Discrimination on the basis of gender, race or religion has long been illegal in Washington state -- but for gay people, the wait for equal protection continues.

Senate Republicans thwarted civil rights legislation for gays and lesbians yesterday by sending the bill back to a committee where it is likely to die without forcing them to take a potentially damaging opposition vote. The House passed the bill in February on a 61-37 vote.

Though Democrats said the bill was not dead and vowed to revive it, the move was a major setback for the effort to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.

... Republicans said they were merely routing the bill to the appropriate committee.

They were able to do so with the help of two famously conservative Senate Democrats, Tim Sheldon of Potlatch and Hoquiam's James Hargrove. Both oppose the legislation, and as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hargrove has the power stop the bill.

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"Routing the bill to the appropriate committee"? Sounds like conservative-speak for "ye olde circular file". These bastards won't be happy till they've backed-stepped this country right into the primordial soup.

We have to unite on the ground and not in the message boards. We need money to back us, use the boards to be a tol for uniting us on the ground. If you are in, lets do this, no more talking (chatting about it). We must act, not react, any longer. Time to stand up and say fuck you!!!!!!!!