Tag Archives: State: Washington

The Bend Bulletin: Austin Nimocks, a lawyer who argues against same-sex marriage for the Alliance Defense Fund, noted that while some polls showed increasing support for gay marriage, voters had never approved it at the polls. In 31 statewide votes, voters have consistently defined marriage as between a man and a woman, he said. “I don’t see a shift in momentum,” Nimocks said. “You can use all the polls you want. You can say anything you want to about civil unions or domestic partnerships, but when it comes to marriage, the record is clear.”

Reuters: A bill to legalize gay marriage in Washington state won final legislative approval on Wednesday in a largely party-line vote that moved the state to the cusp of becoming the seventh in the nation to recognize same-sex nuptials.

Reuters: The Washington state House of Representatives was expected to endorse gay marriage on Wednesday in a vote that puts the state on the cusp of becoming the seventh in the nation to recognize same-sex nuptials.

Seattle Times: Seattle-based Internet retailer Amazon.com said Wednesday it has joined other large Northwest companies to support legislation that would legalize gay marriage in Washington state.

SeattlePI.com: The Senate will vote Wednesday on a measure to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state. The Senate Rules Committee voted Tuesday to move the bill to a floor vote.

CBS Seattle (AP): A House committee on Monday advanced a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state, and the Senate is expected to vote on its companion bill within days.

BET: Sticks and stones can break your bones, and, as the old schoolyard ditty goes, words may never hurt you. But at least they may lead you to be granted large damages in a lawsuit. A Seattle man has been awarded $100,000 in his suit against the Aberdeen School District, charging they did little to stop the racial and anti-gay bullying he endured from 2003 to 2009.

ADF Attorney Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement Church Blog: Let me break down this legalese. What this bill says is that if a church rents out its facilities for non-members to use for weddings, then it will be forced to allow a same-sex couple to use its facilities for a same-sex “marriage” ceremony . . .

ADF Attorney Attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared on AFR Focal Point with Bryan Fischer to discuss the marriage battles in Washington state and New Hampshire. | MP3 audio 12:25 minutes

ADF Attorney Austin R. Nimocks, Pastor Ken Hutcherson, Jennifer Roback Morse of the Ruth Institute, and Washington Catholic Archbishop J. Peter Sartain on King 5 News.

Austin R. Nimocks of the Alliance Defense Fund, Christopher Plante of the National Organization for Marriage, and Jennifer Roback Morse of the Ruth Institute testify before a Washington State Senate Panel on the purpose of marriage. (January 23, 2012)

Seattle Post Intelligencer: The Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections Committee approved the measure with a 4-3 voice vote split on party lines. The bill is expected to head to a floor vote next, though a date has not yet been determined.

CNN: Starbucks has come out in support of a bill that would make Washington the seventh U.S. state to legalize gay marriage.

Law.com: Earlier this month, Microsoft general counsel and executive vice president of legal and corporate affairs Brad Smith took to the company’s official blog with a post titled “Marriage Equality in Washington State Would Be Good for Business,” in which he outlined the business case for the company’s support of same-sex marriage legislation in Washington, where Microsoft is based.

Austin R. Nimocks of the Alliance Defense Fund, Christopher Plante of the National Organization for Marriage, and Jennifer Roback Morse of the Ruth Institute testify before the Washington House Judiciary on the purpose of marriage. (January 23, 2012)

HeraldNet.com: The issue will likely head to the voters, said Austin Nimocks of the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal arm of Focus on the Family group that has fought gay marriage legislation across the country. “Americans are married to the institution of marriage. Red states, blue states, north, south, east and west,” Nimocks said. “They understand the definition of marriage. They don’t need to have the Legislature tell them what it is.”

The Washington Post: Washington’s Legislature has enough votes to legalize gay marriage with a statement from Democratic Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen Monday who said she will support the measure, becoming the 25th vote needed to pass the bill out of the Senate. The House already has enough support, and Gov. Chris Gregoire has endorsed the plan.

HeraldNet.com – Local news: Around the country, there are 39 other Family Policy Institutes like Washington’s. Each is independently run yet share one thing in common — an association with the Focus on the Family arm of the Alliance Defense Fund, Family Research Council and CitizenLink. Backholm made clear association is legally different than affiliation. “We are totally self-sustaining, self-funded and self-operating,” he said. “We get no funds for operation.” Yet the ties are strong. The Alliance Defense Fund planned to dispatch lawyers to Olympia last week to strategize with lawmakers opposed to legalizing same-sex marriage.

The district court granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the State of Washington from enforcing its limitation on contributions to political committees supporting the recall of a state or county official.

MyNorthwest.com: The state Senate is now just one vote shy of having enough backing to approve the bill, with a half-dozen lawmakers remaining uncommitted.

Seattle Times Newspaper: Microsoft has made public its support of legislation in the state House and Senate that would allow gay marriage in Washington state, signing on to a letter to legislative leaders with other prominent Northwest companies, and posting an entry about the company’s position on its official blog.

Diocese of Spokane: The legislation to redefine marriage, therefore, is not in the public interest. Marriage is certainly about the public recognition of a relationship between a man and a woman which carries certain rights and responsibilities for the two adults. But, it is much more

SeattlePI.com: Two Eastside Republican state senators, Sens. Steve Litzow and Cheryl Pflug, have declared their support for same-sex marriage even as GOP leaders argue that the Legislature should not take up the issue.

Seattlepi.com: That margin currently stands at 22-18, and the measure needs 25 votes to pass the Senate.

Seattle Times: As the Legislature prepares to take up a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, a gay-marriage opponent on Monday filed an initiative in an attempt to ensure the issue is brought before voters in November, should lawmakers approve it.

Seattle Times: Gov. Christine Gregoire named King County Superior Court Judge Steven González to the state Supreme Court Tuesday, replacing the retiring Justice Gerry Alexander.

LifeNews.com: A bill in the Washington state legislature would require that any insurance policy sold to state residents for maternity coverage also require policyholders to pay for coverage of abortions.

ADF Attorney Kevin Theriot at the Speak Up Movement Churc Blog: Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Redmond, Washington, reportedly took a stand against the Washington governor’s recent efforts to legalize same-sex “marriage,” stating: ”As long as the Bible says it’s wrong, I’m going to fight against it . . .

Seattle Times Newspaper: Washington state Sen. Steve Litzow told The Seattle Times editorial board he will be the first Republican in the Senate to support gay marriage. His decision is a profile in courage. He will make a big difference. Passage in the Senate has been described as uncertain.

Seattle Times Newspaper: The King County Council voted Monday to support gay marriage — with the caveat that no religious entity would be required to perform or recognize same-sex marriage.

MyNorthwest.com (includes audio): Ken Hutcherson, a pastor at Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, is vowing to fight same sex marriage legislation Gov. Gregoire plans to propose next week.

This court defers to the legislature’s chosen means of discharging its McCleary, et ux., et al. v. State of Washington, 84362-7 article IX, section 1 duty but retains jurisdiction over the case to help facilitate progress in the State’s plan to fully implement the reforms by 2018.

Seattle Times: Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday said she’ll put forward legislation to legalize marriage for gay and lesbian couples. The proposal will be introduced during the legislative session that starts Monday. If it’s approved, Washington would become the seventh state to legalize gay marriage.

The Hill: The National Labor Relations Board has dropped its controversial case against airline manufacturer Boeing, which had become a lightening rod for conservatives.

Reuters: Unions representing 1,000 Washington liquor store workers sued to stop the voter-approved closure of state-run liquor shops set to begin on Thursday.

LifeSiteNews.com: With a court battle over Canada’s laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide proceeding just north of the border, a lawyer in Washington State has proposed that his state expand their Death with Dignity Act.

Seattle Times: As a teen, Steven González earned money cleaning park bathrooms in the California town where he grew up. On Tuesday, Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed González to serve as one of nine justices on the Washington State Supreme Court.

SeattlePI.com: Calling itself Washington United for Marriage, the coalition is also comprised of Equal Rights Washington, Human Rights Campaign, Legal Voice, and Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest. It includes unions and such major faith groups as the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

News from The Associated Press: Washington voters have approved a plan to privatize liquor sales, siding with Costco in the costliest initiative campaign in state history.

Seattle Times Newspaper: A new statewide poll by the University of Washington Center for Survey Research found most voters would support a state gay marriage law if it’s approved by the Legislature. Of voters surveyed, 55 percent indicated they would uphold a Legislature-approved same-sex marriage law if it were challenged by referendum.

SeattlePI.com: Washington’s largest private sector union, UCFW 21, on Thursday said it will support efforts to legalize gay marriage in Washington state next year.

News from The Associated Press: Washington state officials on Monday released copies of signature petitions that forced a vote on a 2009 domestic partnership law, disclosing the names of signers after a judge rejected arguments that supporters could be harassed.

Oregon Faith Report: Georgene Rice interviews Nate Kellum with the Alliance Defense Fund to discuss a Federal lawsuit they have filed regarding a free speech zone in Issaquah, Washington. A city ordinance, if left to stand, could have implications on the free exercise of religion in that community and other places as well.

Oregon Faith Report: Georgene Rice interviews Nate Kellum with the Alliance Defense Fund to discuss a Federal lawsuit they have filed regarding a free speech zone in Issaquah, Washington. A city ordinance, if left to stand, could have implications on the free exercise of religion in that community and other places as well.

Examiner.com: According to Nate Kellum of the ADF, the ordinance violates the “constitutionally protected right to free speech in public areas at a free event that’s open to everyone.”

SnoValley Star: “Christians shouldn’t be threatened with arrest and quarantined in isolated ‘expression areas’ when they want to share their beliefs,” Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum said in a statement. “The federal judge did the right thing by halting the enforcement of a city ordinance that effectively censors anyone who wishes to express his or her beliefs through the distribution of literature. That violates the constitutionally protected right to free speech in public areas at a free event that’s open to everyone.”

Snoqualmie, WA – SnoValley Star: “Christians shouldn’t be threatened with arrest and quarantined in isolated ‘expression areas’ when they want to share their beliefs,” Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum said in a statement. “The federal judge did the right thing by halting the enforcement of a city ordinance that effectively censors anyone who wishes to express his or her beliefs through the distribution of literature. That violates the constitutionally protected right to free speech in public areas at a free event that’s open to everyone.”

OneNewsNow.com: “The federal judge did the right thing here by halting the enforcement of a city ordinance that effectively censors anyone who wishes to express his or her beliefs through the distribution of literature,” Kellum says. “That violates the constitutionally protected right to free speech in public areas at a free event that’s open to everyone.”

Snoqualmie Valley Record: “The problem with those so-called free expression areas is you can’t really reach an audience,” said Alliance Defense Fund attorney Nate Kellum, the senior counsel for Ascherl’s case. “Nobody really came that close to where he was forced to be.”

Seattle Times: A group of doctors filed a lawsuit Friday to stop a new Washington state rule limiting Medicaid patients’ visits to emergency rooms for routine health care.

The Issaquah Press: Attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal advocacy group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., represented Ascherl in federal court. “Christians shouldn’t be threatened with arrest and quarantined in isolated ‘expression areas’ when they want to share their beliefs,” Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum said in a statement. “The federal judge did the right thing by halting the enforcement of a city ordinance that effectively censors anyone who wishes to express his or her beliefs through the distribution of literature. That violates the constitutionally protected right to free speech in public areas at a free event that’s open to everyone.”

LifeNews.com: In Ohio, a lawsuit in which Planned Parenthood was recently found to have violated an Ohio informed consent law has been “resolved and dismissed,” according to the Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney who filed the suit. ADF-allied attorney Brian Hurley represents the parents of a girl who, at age 14, was brought to a Planned Parenthood clinic for an abortion by the 22-year-old soccer coach who impregnated her.

A federal judge ordered the city of Issaquah on Thursday to allow a local small construction company owner to freely hand out Christian literature in public areas at this year’s annual Salmon Days Festival held October 1 and 2. Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit last month . . .

The News Tribune: A letter sent to Washington school districts asking them to accommodate Muslim students’ needs and offering a classroom lesson on sacred Islamic times of year has sparked controversy in Pierce County.

SnoValley Star: The free-speech zones set up by Issaquah are merely circumventing the First Amendment, said Nate Kellum, one of the attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund representing Ascherl . . . “Ascherl’s literature distribution was far less prone to create congestion than these other activities.” The city’s expression areas don’t allow for real freedom of expression, Kellum said. “What is free speech if no one can hear it?” he asked.

. . . “We’ve always said that domestic partnership was not an end to itself but a path toward marriage,” [Sen. Ed] Murray said.

The Issaquah Press: Jonathan Scruggs, litigation staff counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal advocacy group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., said the decision to single out people handing out leaflets is a problem. Scruggs and other attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund represent Ascherl in the case. “Quarantining freedom of speech to certain areas just does not comply with the First Amendment,” Scruggs said. Salmon Days receives financial and logistical support from the city, and requires a municipal permit to operate. “If you’re going to allow a person to sit there and eat his hot dog, or you’re going to allow people to line up in line or stand at booths, or to stand still and watch something — for example, you could have 10 people just standing still talking about football,” he said. “There’s no reason to allow those things, and yet ban a person from both standing and walking around with a pamphlet in his hand.”

Religion Clause: It found that prayer, church picnics and advertising for fundraisers by houses of worship have been allowed on various state property, while baptisms and religious speeches have not. At issue is the manner in which the state interprets Art. I, Sec. 11 of the state constitution, which provides . . .

OneNewsNow.com: Christians shouldn’t be threatened with arrest and censored by being quarantined to isolated expression areas when they want to share their beliefs,” contends ADF attorney Nate Kellum.
“The city ordinance mandating these zones effectively censors anyone wishing to express his or her beliefs through the distribution of literature. That violates the constitutionally protected right to free speech in public areas at a free event that’s open to everyone.”

LifeNews.com: Washington Trust Bank funded the loan that made the new abortion facility possible, according to records the Catholic Sentinel newspaper obtained recently

The Issaquah Press: The incident attracted attention from the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal advocacy group based in Scottsdale, Ariz. “Christians shouldn’t be threatened with arrest and censored by being quarantined to isolated ‘expression areas’ when they want to share their beliefs,” Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum said in a statement. “The city ordinance mandating the zones effectively censors anyone wishing to express his or her beliefs through the distribution of literature. That violates the constitutionally protected right to free speech in public areas at a free event that’s open to everyone.”

SeattlePI.com: A federal judge sided Monday with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in a dispute with organized labor, ruling that federal labor laws don’t prohibit “the expression of political animosity toward unions.”

SeattlePI.com: “Christians shouldn’t be threatened with arrest and censored by being quarantined to isolated ‘expression areas’ when they want to share their beliefs,” said Nate Kellum, senior counsel wih the Alliance Defense Fund, in a statement. Kellum said the ordinance violates the “protected right to free speech in public areas at a free event that’s open to everyone.”

ADF files suit against Washington town over problematic ‘free speech zones’
at annual event open to public

AP: A Seattle-area Muslim is suing his former employer, claiming he was fired as a security guard for refusing to shave his beard, which he wears for religious reasons.

Seattlepi.com: The Suquamish Tribe in Kitsap County has approved same-sex marriage. The tribal council extended marriage rights to same-sex couples on Monday, the Kitsap Sun reports.

The Post and Courier: Graham said he “will not be intimidated” by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

FoxNews.com: Republicans are calling on the National Labor Relations Board to dismiss its complaint against Boeing and get out of the way of job creation, though Democrats argue Boeing is violating the law by retaliating against union employees.

The Volokh Conspiracy:
. . objection from the Kootenai County Constitution Party: Christians of Kootenai County should be dismayed at the appearance of a Hindu demon, Ganesh, statue that is currently found on Sherman ave in Coeur d’Alene. The godless group of individuals that manage the “art” of the city have approved this abomination by Rick Davis to be displayed on Sherman Ave.

Sacramento Bee: A new, first-of-its-kind Seattle in vitro fertilization program can save women 30 percent on the expense of conceiving a child with a donated egg.

Religion Clause Blog: In Harris v. Providence Everett Medical Center, (WA App., May 16, 2011), a Washington state appellate court held that a hospital whose parent company is sponsored by a Catholic religious order, the Sisters of Providence, comes within the statutory exemption (RCW 49.60.040(11)) in the state’s anti-discrimination law for non-profit “religious or sectarian” organizations.

Jim McNereny at the Wall Street Journal: Washington’s actions have assaulted the capitalist principles that have sustained America’s competitiveness since it became the world’s largest economy nearly 140 years ago.

Michael Reagan at Townhall: Restriction of movement — telling citizens or groups they cannot travel or relocate freely. We are now witnessing a shocking example of that dictatorial practice at the hands of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is insisting that a major U.S. employer may not move some of its operations from one state to another because to do so might somehow violate workers’ rights.

Seattle Post Intelligencer: A complaint that Boeing illegally retaliated against Washington workers by putting its second 787 Dreamlinerassembly line in South Carolina is not unusual, National Labor Relations Board Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon said Monday.

Seattle Post Intelligencer: An anti-abortion activist accused of harassing a Planned Parenthood clinic in Lynnwood has agreed to a federal order barring him from going near the clinic.