Citizens for Fairness Hands Off Washington

Hands Off Washington
Hands Off Washington logo featured on signs, stickers and posters
U.S. State of Washington
Motto	Washington Citizens for Fairness
Formation	1993

Washington Citizens for Fairness | Hands off Washington (H.O.W.) was created in 1993 to defeat Washington State ballot initiatives 608 and 610,^[1] which threatened the civil rights of state and local public employees based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation.^[2]

History

In 1993, The Oregon Citizens Alliance attempted to influence Washington politics by gathering signatures for a ballot initiative that would have restricted the civil rights of GLBT citizens in Washington State. The Citizens for Fairness/Hands Off Washington campaign was a grassroots gay rights effort that repelled this attempt, casting the OCA as an Oregonian organization trying to manipulate Washington State politics. During its brief history, the HOW campaign repelled a number of OCA attempts. In 1997, Washington's existing discrimination laws protected against many different classes, but not sexual orientation,^[3] perceived or actual; the HOW campaign attempted to add both categories to the existing anti-discrimination laws via a ballot measure (Initiative 677), which failed to pass despite high profile support from then Governor Gary Locke.^[4] Hands Off Washington lost momentum after this setback, and faded gradually over the following years.^[5]

Legacy

Hands Off Washington was the forerunner of many Washingtonian GLBT civil rights organizations, including Equal Rights Washington, and Washington Families Standing Together. It was formed as an ad hoc grassroots effort consisting almost entirely of volunteers operating on a minimal budget, and achieved remarkable success given its lack of formal structure or funds. While other GLBT service groups predate the Washington Citizens for Fairness/Hands Off Washington campaign, they were mostly non-political in nature, and therefore the HOW can be seen as one of the first significant, statewide efforts at political involvement by GLBT people in Washington State. A documentary, We're Here to Stay: a Documentary About Hands Off Washington and the Politics of Washington State, was released in 1998 to chronicle the organization's rapid rise and equally rapid decline.^{[citation needed]}

While the group has largely been forgotten, it appears quite frequently in news articles published during the period in which it was active, from about 1993 to the end of 1997. At its height, it reached every corner of the State, in rural and suburban areas as well as urban ones. This established the potential for GLBT political organizations to garner support far from the heavily urbanized parts of Western Washington, where prior misconceptions alleged the only real support base could exist. This laid the groundwork for the organizations that followed it, and many of the leaders of those organizations got their start in the HOW campaign.^[6]

See also

LGBT portal

• LGBT rights in the United States
• List of LGBT rights organizations

References

1. ^ "The Son Of 608? Please Spare US". Seattle Times. 1994-07-14. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940714&slug=1920255. Retrieved 2009-09-06. 
2. ^ "WE'RE HERE TO STAY". Lizard Productions. 1998. http://lizardproductions.com/wereheretostay.html. Retrieved 2009-09-06. 
3. ^ Turnbull, Lornet (2006-02-27). "Some question use of ballot box to settle issues like gay rights". Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002831425_gayrightsvote27m.html. Retrieved 2009-09-06. 
4. ^ "Pro/Con -- Initiative 677: Gay Rights". Seattle Times. 1997-10-30. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19971030&slug=2569266. Retrieved 2009-09-06. 
5. ^ "Society of American Archivists' Lesbian and Gay Archives Roundtable". Society of American Archivists. 2009-09-06. http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/lagar/guide/washington.html. Retrieved 2007-03-03. 
6. ^ "Equal Rights Washington appoints new executive director". Seattle Gay News. 2009-09-06. http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews28/page3.cfm. Retrieved 2005-02-15.