Washington gay rights law draws questions, few investigations

More than two months after new civil rights protections for gays and lesbians went into effect, Washington State officials have spent more time answering questions than launching investigations. That's fine with Marc Brenman, executive director of the state Human Rights Commission, who sees a wide-ranging education effort as a crucial service during the law's early days.

"We're not hearing any howls of dismay from anyone," he said Wednesday in Olympia. "Everybody seems to have accepted the new statute in a good spirit and a cooperative spirit."

State lawmakers passed the gay civil rights bill in January after nearly 30 years of failed attempts by several longtime legislative sponsors. The law, which took effect in early June, added a sexual orientation component to previous state bans on discrimination in housing, employment, insurance, and credit.

The Human Rights Commission has the power to investigate such complaints and may help cases enter mediation or move them to the state attorney general for legal action. So far, investigators have opened fewer than 10 cases under the gay civil rights law, Brenman said. He declined to give details but did offer two examples: complaints from workers and a tenant alleging harassment because of their sexual orientation, with one employee claiming to have quit because of the treatment; and difficulties at a health club, with a transsexual alleging a membership had been canceled.

Along with a few formal investigations, officials have fielded dozens of simpler queries. "I think we've gotten the inquiries we've expected to get: 'There's a transsexual employee transitioning in the workplace; what bathroom should she use?' " Brenman said.

Opponents of the law suggested there was little practical need for its protections in liberal-leaning Washington State, and some critics see a lack of headline-grabbing complaints as fuel for that argument. Instead, the gay rights law could ultimately be used to sue religious organizations and to help advance the cause of same-sex marriage, said Gary Randall, president of the conservative Faith and Freedom Network.

The civil rights law does not include any protections similar to marriage, a fact that helps highlight the rights gay and lesbian people still lack, said Josh Friedes, advocacy director of the gay rights group Equal Rights Washington. But he noted that the civil rights law actually may have hurt gays in the state supreme court's recent decision upholding a state ban on same-sex marriage—the majority's decision cited this year's approval of the bill as proof that gays and lesbians are not a powerless underclass.

That reasoning has puzzled many observers, including Friedes. But he said the civil rights law has still been immensely valuable for gays and lesbians.

"In a lot of ways, what we have finally been given is our First Amendment rights," he said. "Now that we can finally talk about our partners at work, talk about our children—now people can understand the problems that we face." (AP)