Equality Act Resolution
On March 13 the Seattle City Council unanimously passed the Equality Act Resolution, naming the day Equality Act Day. This Resolution calls upon Congress to reintroduce and enact the 2015 Equality Act, adding sexual orientation and gender identity to existing protected classes in our federal civil rights laws, including protections from discrimination in work spaces, housing, and public spaces. It would also clarify that transgender students can use single-sex facilities in schools corresponding to their gender identity or expression.
Gathering support for the Equality Act among local, municipal governments is the strategy of a national movement to ensure our federal civil rights laws are fully inclusive of protections for LGBTQ community members. With the passage of this Resolution Seattle joined cities like Boston and Palm Springs in uplifting the rights of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. When states like South Dakota, which just made it legal for taxpayer-funded adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ people, we cannot wait for the political climate to change. The existing state to state patchwork of LGBTQ rights is ineffective and we need new federal law to consistently be applied.
Congressman Adam Smith and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal will be cosponsors to the bill when it is reintroduced later this month. Both Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray are also fully supporting this bill.
Many thanks to Councilmember González, Harrell and O’Brien for co-sponsoring this bill. I would also like to thank Richard Noble and the national advocates working with my office to support this important legislation. Our local activists: the Seattle LGBTQ Commission, LGBTQ Allyship, the Gender Justice League, and the Pride Foundation and the Greater Seattle Business Association get my gratitude as well for working on this Resolution with my office.
Herbold Policy Letters and Statements This Week
Here are links to letters and statements I authored this week:
- A letter to the state legislature in support of House Bill 1527, the Motion Picture Competitiveness Program (LINK). As Chair of the Seattle City Council Committee with oversight of Arts and Economic and Labor issues, I think it’s critical that we support a program that has created over 17,500 jobs for Washingtonians totaling an estimated $53 million in wages and benefits for Washington residents. Eight-seven percent of the 115 projects approved for funding assistance signed union contracts.
- A statement opposing proposed cuts in Trump’s budget on the arts and public broadcasting, and announcing a forum I’ll be co-sponsoring with the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture on the National Endowment for the Arts and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This funding accounts for about four one-hundredths of one percent of the United States’ annual federal discretionary spending, yet these programs are on the chopping block, while planning for a ridiculous wall is proposed in its stead.
- A letter, signed by 7 of 9 City Councilmembers to the King County Council in support of Councilmember Dave Upthegrove’s bill requiring youth in the detention center be provided with an opportunity to consult with attorneys prior to speaking with law enforcement (LINK); the State Supreme Court held earlier this month that “because children are different…criminal procedure laws must take the defendants’ youthfulness into account.”
Fauntleroy Project tour public walk-through on Saturday the 18th
SDOT will be hosting a public “Walk and Talk” tour of the Fauntleroy Boulevard Project area on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to noon. You can RSVP here; more information is available at the Project website.
Delridge Rapid Ride H Line online survey/town hall and outreach events
SDOT has set an “Online Open House” from March 13-31 on the proposed RapidRide H Line. King County Metro and SDOT are collaborating to convert the 120 bus line into a new rapid ride line in 2020. The webpage links to a description of the Delridge Corridor, opportunities and constraints, and tradeoffs.
SDOT has listed two options, which can be viewed here.
An online survey is linked here; you can sign up for e-mail updates here. In-person events are planned on Delridge from 3/20 to 3/24; the schedule is here. SDOT’s goal for a citywide 2024 Rapid Ride network is linked here.
D1 events coming up next week
Join me at the Fauntleroy Food Fest and Annual Meeting. Meet and mingle with friends and neighbors to learn about the different organizations serving the Fauntleroy neighborhood. Food will be provided by the Fauntleroy-area restaurants and a no-host bar. They will also be collecting food bank donations.
Admiral Theater Grand Reopening! Announced by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society “The Ship Sails Again: Four Screens, Four Era” grand reopening is coming up on Wednesday the 22, the ceremony starts at 5:30pm and films start at 6:20pm.