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Washington Won't Discriminate names new campaign manager |
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Washington Won't Discriminate names new campaign manager - SGN Exclusive |
Lorrie McKay to bring extensive political experience
to campaign to
retain anti-discrimination law
by Robert Raketty -
SGN Staff Writer
Longtime Lesbian activist Lorrie McKay has been tapped
to lead the effort to retain Washingtons new law
barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and
gender identity. According to Anne Levinson, Chair of
Washington Wont Discriminate, McKay was selected as
campaign manager of the organization after a brief,
but considered process.
Im honored to have been selected, especially
considering the field of qualified candidates who
threw their hat in the ring, she said. However, I
have no illusion of the task before me. & I absolutely
think our community can meet the challenge. I think
that the community as a whole, the Washington State
community as a whole, can meet this challenge.
This is about discrimination. People dont want to
legalize discrimination against their fellow citizens.
I absolutely think that our community working in
concert with the larger community; the larger
coalition of progressive groups can absolutely
defeat this initiative. I look forward to the
challenge.
Levinson said she was pleased with the outcome of the
selection process. Lorrie is a perfect person to help
lead this effort, she said. We not only want to
decisively defeat any effort to rollback the civil
rights of Washingtonians, we want to make sure we do
so in a way that strengthens the LGBT and broader
progressive community for the long run. That means we
need to be both politically strategic and
collaborative. She has a record of doing exactly
that.
McKay said she became politically active at an early
age. At Bellevue High School, she was active in an
anti-apartheid organization. At Western Washington
University, she fought efforts to cut funds for the
center for sexual minority students and co-founded the
WWU chapter of Students for Jessie Jackson during his
bid for the presidency.
After college, she was recruited to coordinate a
legislative campaign in Edmonds during the 1988
election cycle. McKay volunteered for Norm Rices
first campaign for Seattle mayor. She also worked for
a local campaign consultant, helping to elect women
and progressive candidates from 1990 until 1992. She
managed a bond campaign for the Seattle Public
Libraries in 1994. She organized a lose network of
labor unions, environmental groups and progressive
orginizations in an effort to oust Jack Metcalf in the
2nd Congressional District in 1996. She also was a
founding board member and volunteer for the No on 200
Campaign, which sought to preserve opportunities for
racial minorities and women.
Her work on behalf of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender community is equally as impressive. McKay
had been the volunteer coordinator for the No on 35
Campaign, which was an effort to defend bereavement
benefits for City of Seattle employees in registered
domestic partnerships. She worked for the Harvey Muggy
Democrats during the 1992 Presidential Election,
before becoming the statewide field director for Hands
Off Washington in 1993. Furthermore, she helped defeat
two anti-Gay initiatives, I-608 and I-610.
She has held several positions at King County
Executive Ron Sims office over the last nine years,
including her most recent post as the assistant to
Sims chief-of-staff. [Sims] wants to defeat
discrimination at every turn. So, I think he was
thrilled for me, said McKay. When I told him that I
was offered the job, he looked me in the eye. He said,
Take it. We need you to do a good job. We need to
beat Tim Eyman and you can do it. He was very
encouraging and he was very supportive.
Levinson said McKays political credentials was what
Washington Wont Discriminates had been looking for in
a campaign manager. Lorrie has been involved in
campaigns in Washington State for more than two
decades, both professionally and as a volunteer, she
said. She brings broad expertise in political
organizing together with a lifelong commitment to
equal justice and healthy communities. With her
experience and relationships, she can get started
without missing a beat. We are excited to have her
aboard.
Tina Podlodowski, executive director of Lifelong AIDS
Alliance and former Seattle City Councilmember,
applauded the decision to hire McKay. Over ten years
ago Lorrie and I worked together at Hands Off
Washington, where she was the statewide field
director, she said. We were successful in keeping
Oregon-style Lon Mabon-esque initiatives off the
Washington ballot, and Lorrie was critical to that
success. Lorrie knows what it takes to get this work
done and will build a strong coalition.
Likewise, Herb Krohn, a longtime political activist on
LGBT issues and former co-chair of the Seattle
Municipal Elections Committee commended the decision.
I am very pleased with the choice, he said. I am
very happy they chose someone who has experience with
Washington State, knows the history of the area and
understands the political landscape. I think that is
crucial. She is probably one of the few people who can
hit the ground running with this type of campaign.
State Rep. Ed Murray, the primary sponsor of the
anti-discrimination legislation for the last 11 years,
said Lorrie is well equipped to avoid any political
land mines. She has political sense, he said. She
knows how to work with the very diverse and sometimes
contentious groups that make up the GLBT community.
The antidiscrimination legislation had passed the
state Senate by a vote of 25-23 last month. Democrats
had not attached an emergency clause to the bill,
which left the bill open to a repeal effort by its
foes. Tim Eyman, who is best known for his $30 car tab
initiative, introduced two ballot measures even before
the bill had been signed. Initiatives require about
225,000 voter signatures to quality for the ballot,
but a referendum would require haft of that.
What we need right now is for people to sign up to
make themselves known to the campaign and to endorse
the campaign. & We also need to talk to everyone we
know and talk to them about Eymans effort, said
McKay. If you are able to make a donation of any
size, just start building a cache of money. We will
need to wage a campaign on many levels to defeat the
far right. & We need to register as many people as we
can to vote and be visible at all sorts of events.
Just will keep building the coalition and making
ourselves stronger.
We have a fabulous rich history of being able to pull
ourselves together to fight this stuff. We just need
to build on our past and & be prepared to go the
distance through November.
For more information about Washington Wont
Discriminate, visit:
www.washingtonwontdiscriminate.org |
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