Washington State is for Equality

In a University of Washington Statewide Voter Survey conducted in October 2007 there was a question (Q31) designed to gauge public opinion on same-sex marriage and relationship recognition.

While the study has not yet been publicly released, the advance data I’ve seen is encouraging. 

UPDATE: 2007 results here on slide 6 and 2006 results here on slide 7.

31. Which of the following statements best describes your views on the issue of same-sex marriage?

• 35.23% - Gay and lesbian couples should have the same legal right to marry as straight couples
• 24.12% - Gay and lesbian couples should be able to have the same legal rights as straight couples but it should not be called marriage
• 14.11% - There should be domestic partnerships that give gay and lesbian couples only some of the benefits and protections of marriage
• 22.10% - There should be no legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples
• 3.19% - (Don't Know)
• 1.25% - (Refused)

Key Takeaways:

The majority of Washingtonians (59.35%) think that gay and lesbian couples should have exactly the same rights as straight couples

The vast majority of Washingtonians (73.46%) think that gay and lesbian couples should have some or all the benefits and protections of marriage

Only a small minority of Washingtonians (14.11%) think that gay and lesbian couples should have only domestic partnerships with limited benefits and protections

More Washingtonians support full marriage equality (35.23%) than oppose any legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples (22.10%)

A commenter on the Washington Votes site claims of our legislators: "They don't care what the majority of Washington voters want."

Yet it seems that the exact opposite is true. 

With 59.35% of Washington Voters agreeing that gay, lesbian and straight couples should all have the same rights, and 73.26% of Washington Voters saying that gay and lesbian couples should have some or all of the benefits and protections of marriage, it's evident that our legislators know exactly what Washington Voters want.

Fair treatment and equality for all couples and families.

Being stupid isn't enough, now Hutcherson has to look it, too

If you are creating a web site that is going after corporations and Microsoft is your first target, wouldn't you think that you'd avoid building it on top of a Microsoft Product?    (Hat tip to tiff_seattle)

Not Hutch and his AGN Financial Network pals.

I guess they just can't do without that gay-loving-traditional-marriage-hating Windows Server 2003.

Business Wire has no comment

You may recall Hutcherson's original complaint that his press release wasn't published by Business Wire for content reasons.

Curious about the reason for the refusal to publish, I called the local Business Wire bureau in Seattle. I was told that they would not be able to comment and referred me to their New York head office.

The New York office made it very clear that they had no comment on the reasons that AGN Financial's specific press release was rejected.  They reserve fairly broad rights to refuse to publish press releases based on their content. 

When pressed for content issues that might cause such a refusal they did mention quality of writing, grammar and language used as potential reasons they might decline to publish press releases.

Having read the press release several times, I can see reasons under all three categories they mentioned that might have caused them to reject the AGN Financial Network press release.

But is it really too much to hope that they found the content simply offensive?

Oops, I think he did it again!

I've already laid out the reasons why Reverend Ken Hutcherson's latest scheme is likely to fail in previous post - and they are legion.

Hutch has said he will stop Microsoft "supporting anti-Judeo Christian values" by amassing One Hundred Million (100,000,000) shares of MSFT stock and then putting forward a Shareholder Proposal in time for he and his followers to vote on it at Microsoft's next Annual Stockholders meeting in November 2008.

But like most things Hutch does, I don't think he thought it through or did the math correctly.

Researching the Microsoft Stockholder meeting schedule, it turns out that in order to vote the shares, they must be acquired far enough in advance.

On the AGN Financial site, Hutcherson has set out a deadline for getting the 100 million shares he wants for mid-March 2008.  A full nine months prior to the likely date of the ballot in mid-November 2008.  

My reading of the proxy materials over the last several years shows that in order to vote the shares, you need to be a shareholder of record by the end of the first full week in September – only about 5 weeks before the ballot.  This falls right inside the guidance contained in the Microsoft By-laws:

1.7 Record Date and Transfer Books
For the purpose of determining shareholders who are entitled to notice of or to vote at any meeting of shareholders or any adjournment thereof, or entitled to receive payment of any dividend, or in order to make a determination of shareholders for any other proper purpose, the Board of Directors may fix in advance a record date for any such determination of shareholders, such date in any case to be not more than seventy (70) days and, in case of a meeting of shareholders, not less than ten (10) days prior to the date on which the particular action, requiring such determination of shareholders, is to be taken.

Is there another rule that imposes a nine month window?  I can’t find it in the SEC regulations I’ve looked at.  If there is no such rule, the question is “Why is Hutcherson driving people to donate by mid-March?”

Does he finally intend to pay the $30,000 in back rent he owes the school where he rents space for his church?

Or does he just have a boat or SUV payment due?

Assuming that this isn't just a scam to get more money sooner, that leaves Hutcherson and his followers just over two months to meet the 100 million MSFT share goal.

Even I find it hard to believe that even Hutcherson could be this poor in his planning.

Hutcherson Wins Another Schrammie

It's not the first time that Reverend Ken Hutcherson has won a Schrammie, and it's unlikely to be the last.

He says God is still whispering in his ear.

And the voice of the Almighty is telling him to go be a mogul and smite those homosexuals.
So would Pastor Ken Hutcherson put down that bottle of sacramental wine and please come on down?

Being one of the region's pre-eminent Christian bullies, the right-wing reverend is gathering his flock for a special mission.

That idea is to have the faithful buy up shares of Microsoft stock and then donate a portion to Pastor Hutcherson's newly created "AGN Financial Network."
The ultimate goal would be that the pastor's soldiers of Christ would come to wield enough shareholder power to thwart Microsoft's support of gay rights.

Ideally, Pastor Hutcherson would like to strip away gay civil rights protections and prevent the legalization of gay marriage.
I just wonder if God gave him any other stock tips besides Microsoft.

Anyway, for his blustery biblical tirades; for his coarse and cruel regard for basic human dignity but mostly for his arrogance and disdain of people who see things differently than he, take a bow Pastor Hutcherson, because this "Schrammie" is for you.

Let's hope our eyes and ears don't end up bleeding from another trite and facile video from Pastor Hutcherson.

Hutch has a PR problem

I've been complaining that Pastor Ken Hutcherson failed to deliver on the promised press release and web site, but it seems that none of it is his fault!

In an e-mail earlier today Hutcherson stated:

"The Business Wire refused to release it, stating that they had the right to do so, based on the content."

Having read it, I'd say that it was a justified decision on their part.

Perhaps they find overt bigotry hard to stomach as well.

You can find the web site at AGNFINANCIAL.ORG and you can find the MIA Press Release here.

The press release still doesn't say what Microsoft is doing that it needs to change or stop.  What it does say without any hint of irony is:

AGN believes that Microsoft Shareholders would be better served if Microsoft reexamined their giving policies and explored more worthy causes that are designed to help people in real need.

Potential donors to this Antioch Bible Church swindle would be better served helping the poor, the sick and the disadvantaged by donating to other Northwest charities instead.

And there is such grandiosity of vision and language:

The AGN website will keep people apprised of the progress and news of this campaign of Biblical proportions. All existing and potential Microsoft shareholders can visit the site prior to regular voting windows to see what AGN recommendations are backed by Biblical scriptures. For the first time in American History, a single person with only three shares of Microsoft stock (worth approximately $100), will have the voice of millions or even hundreds of millions of shares shaping the moral decisions of one of the largest companies in the world.

You won't be surprised by the supporters, either:

This Biblical initiative is supported by Chuck Colson (Prison Fellowship), Gary Bauer (Family Values), Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Paul Weyrich (cofounded the Heritage Foundation and the Moral Majority), Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. (leading researcher of the Black Church), Dr. Richard Land (Southern Baptist Convention and Host for Faith & Family), Don Wildmon (American Family Association), Herb Lusk (Greater Exodus Baptist Church and former All American Football Player), Tom Strobhar (Citizens Action Now), and Nationally Acclaimed speaker and best-selling author, Rabbi Daniel Lapin. The list of supporters is growing daily.

I mentioned Tom Strohbar's activities in this realm in a previous post.

How is it that whenever Hutch launches something he seems to screw it up? 

My bet is Divine Intervention.

UPDATE:  Here's the Non-Profit Corporation registration for this organization.

Where's the beef, bigot...

We were promised a press release and a web site for Hutcherson's latest scam.

Where the hell are they?  Has anyone seen or linked to them?  If so I can't find them.

Has anyone been able to find records for the alleged "AGN Financial Network"? 

It doesn't come up in corporate and non-profit registration searches in Washington State or Delaware.

Maybe it's all a disorganized shambles that has no hope of getting off the ground.

Now what ever would give me that idea.

Microsoft Employees Reject Hutcherson

It seems that there are some Microsoft Employees who disagree with Pastor Hutcherson's anti-GLBT agenda.  

A group has been created on Facebook called Microsoftees who disagree with Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Church which has 63 members. 

I'll mention without commenting that there is also a Facebook group for Hutcherson's Antioch Bible Church which has just 39 members.

Lame Hutcherson scam hits "the tubes" tomorrow

For someone so "pro-life" Reverend Ken Hutcherson has a penchant for stillborn schemes that never fails to astound.

If his confounding ravings at the Microsoft Shareholder Meeting could be loosely interpreted as an announcement that he was "expecting", then tomorrow we can look forward to what amounts to a "birth announcement".

I look forward to the juicy details of his latest all new scam. 

But if we are honest I think we'll all see that its just a tired old scam parading around in a funny hat.

Hutcherson's 2007 - A Year in Review

It really hasn't been a good year for Washington State's loopiest biblical literalist.  

From beginning to end he huffed and he puffed... and no-ones house fell down.

He tried to roll back the anti-discrimination bill with a ballot initiative but parlayed it into a double failure by giving up on I-963 (Failure #1) to focus on fighting the Domestic Partnership Bill which promptly passed (Failure #2). 

He found common cause with some Slavic Churches at home and abroad whose members think it's acceptable, and even funny, to assault and murder people they perceive to be gay. 

He passed himself off as a "Special Envoy" from the White House in Latvia and got caught - triggering requests for investigation to the FBI and the State Department Inspector General. 

In league with Bishop Harry Jackson's High Impact Leadership Coalition he opposed the passage of the expanded Hate Crimes Bill, they failed and it was passed in both the House and Senate.

The principal of the school he rents for his church, himself a member of Hutcherson's congregation, resigned amidst a flurry of irregularities including undercharging Hutcherson for facilities rental in the order of $30,000 over several years.

He joined the virulently anti-gay Watchmen on the Walls organization, now tracked as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, speaking at their Lynnwood conference amid community protest.

Unsatisfied with the failure and boobery he'd managed so far, he turned up at the Microsoft Shareholders Meeting and threatened them with dire retribution without making it clear what they needed to do to avoid it.

A few days later he clarified some of his remarks and eventually outlined his scheme, one that has absolutely no chance of affecting Microsoft in the slightest, but which could net a tidy profit from his more gullible followers and those who failed basic math.

Seriously, the man couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery. Here's a quick timeline of Hutcherson's year:

• Jan 20th - Pastor wants bias law repealed
• Jan 26th - Ken Schram: I irritated some folks with this week's "Schrammie"
• Jan 27th - Gay-rights foe finds new allies in Slavic churches
• Mar 1st - The Holy War Room: Evangelicals Plot Their Global Takeover—In Portland's Backyard!
• Mar 9th - Procreate or Annul: Marriage-Rights Spoof Sparks Seattle Debate
• Mar 13th - Anti-Gay Latvian Group Charges Blair with Interfering in Domestic Politics
• Mar 19th - White House disputes pastor's claim he was "special envoy"
• Mar 20th - Hutcherson told Latvians he had "the power"
• Mar 26th - This is war, anti-gay American preacher Hutcherson tells Europe
• Mar 28th - Anti-gay preacher's White House flap
• Apr 12th - Hutcherson won't show evidence of White House ties
• Apr 14th - ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES: How Christians View Sexuality and Non-standard Sexual Practices
• Apr 23rd - Principal's downfall came at a high cost
• May - No one really wrote much about him that was new
• Jun 1st - Is Rev. Hutcherson back in Latvia?
• Jun 21st - Celebrating faith and sexual identity in song
• Jun 18th - Hutcherson and HILC oppose the Hate Crimes Bill
• Jun 29th - Initiative targeting gays is dropped
• Jul 5th - Couples get more rights in 2 weeks
• Jul 5th - Immigrant Initiative comes up short
• Jul 6th - Hutcherson's Initiative 963 fails - no signatures submitted
• Jul 16th - Opposing gay rights - think before you speak
• Jul 20th - Rights registry isn’t end of same-sex union issue
• Jul 24th - Lawmakers want to add rights to same-sex partnerships
• Aug - Again, no one wrote anything new about him
• Sep - Wow, two months of peace and no new Hutch boobery
• Oct 3rd - The Latvian Connection - West Coast Anti-Gay Movement on the march
• Oct 16th - Lynnwood Christian conference raises worries
• Oct 20th - Watchmen meet amid protesters
• Oct 22nd - No clashes between protesters, Watchmen on the Walls
• Nov 14th - Notes from MSFT's annual shareholders meeting
• Nov 16th - Pastor in Microsoft 'gay rights' share bid
• Dec - Silent Night - obviously putting finishing touches on that fundraising-scam-masquerading-as-going-after-Microsoft thing

I'm going to be keeping an eye and an ear out for Hutcherson's "Oh, no! I have something *much* more important that I'm doing" excuse for failing to follow through on his threats to Microsoft. 

Perhaps we should take odds on what it will be when the Microsoft Shareholders meeting rolls around again in November 2008.  I think he'll say he's "focusing on getting pro-traditional family candidates elected".

It's got to be better than his tired "The dog ate my boycott" canard, surely.

Happy New Year to the "E Roy St Humpers"

It's not often you find a compelling narrative in refuse, but today is an outstanding exception.

Taking a New Year's Day constitutional we discovered a discarded condom wrapper outside our home.  Evidently someone started the New Year with a bang (and responsibly - rock on dude/s). 

As we walked towards Fuel Coffee we discovered half-empty drinks on the side of the road where, we imagine, the couple decided to abandon booze for booty.

We also found evidence of post revelry clean-up with a bar of soap, and water bottles used to wash the pink bits and re-hydrate.

I hope that next year when they or another couple decide to transfigure themselves into The Beast With Two Backs near our home, they'll smile for the motion-sensitive security cameras.

A Humpy New Year to all!