ACTION ALERT JANUARY 8, 2016
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love. 1 Corinthians 16:13
Dear CWA of Washington Member,
I send you 2016 wishes for a God-centered new year. This will no doubt be a significant year for religious liberty, our families and the freedoms our forefathers wrote into the U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Keeping our eyes on Jesus, we go into this year standing fast in the faith and asking you to stand alongside us.
URGENT ISSUE
Just a few days into this New Year, I must alert you to a very real danger to you and your family members. On December 26, the Washington State Human Rights Commission implemented a new policy regarding our right to privacy and public safety. That unelected commission ruled that any individual who believes he/she is of the opposite gender, i.e. transgendered, must be allowed to enter the bathroom, shower and locker room of their personal choice, based on their identity rather than their anatomy. CWA of Washington has several serious concerns about this policy:
1) This ruling is an attack on the right to privacy for each one of us. For your information, here is the preamble to the Constitution of the State of Washington and the constitution’s protection of our right to privacy:
We, the people of the State of Washington, grateful to
the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for our liberties, do ordain this constitution.
ARTICLE I
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
SECTION 7 INVASION OF PRIVATE AFFAIRS OR HOME PROHIBITED.
No person shall be disturbed in his private affairs, or his home invaded, without authority of law.
At this point, the HRC ruling appears to be the law, so we concerned citizens must act to undo this ruling through our elected legislators.
2) There is a serious threat to public safety from this ruling. No one is allowed to even question an individual’s sexual identity, and if you do, you will be accused of discrimination and possibly subject to prosecution.
3) There is very likely a serious conflict between this ruling and charges of voyeurism or indecent exposure. This conflict will put the authorities on thin ice until this can be clarified by legislation or the courts.
4) Common sense says that this ruling will encourage/enable individuals to take advantage of such opportunity to the detriment of the rest of us.
Unfortunately, the YMCA in Pierce County chose several months ago to get a jump start on this policy and opened their locker rooms to individuals who believe they are of the opposite gender than their biological reality. A group of moms rose up to protest and the Y responded by pulling that policy, but then reinstated it, thus ignoring the serious concerns of families in their community in exchange for a tiny minority of individuals intent on pushing their self-centered agenda on the majority. As a result, those brave moms educated and rallied other families to withdraw their YMCA membership. As a result, the sound of children’s voices has been greatly diminished as fewer families use the Y’s facilities, preferring to protect their children from traumatic emotional and physical exposure to transgendered individuals. We encourage you to be aware of this situation, educate others on it, and pray regarding your interaction with the YMCA. As always, we encourage prayer, education, then respectful action on your part to protect you and your families. Please pray for those individuals who would put their preferences above our rights to safety and privacy, that God would touch their lives in a very real way and bring them from darkness into His light.
As Rep. Graham Hunt says, “For the Human Rights Commission to unilaterally make a [Washington Administrative Code] change — they’re not an elected body … They’re making decisions that widely affect the public although they’re not elected and held accountable to the public in the same fashion.” (“Transgenders in Washington state to use restrooms based on identity, not anatomy, commission rules”;Valerie Richardson – The Washington Times – Thursday, December 31, 2015).
There have been success stories about this issue; here are two sources of information on this very unwise and dangerous ruling by the Human Rights Commission. Todd Herman interviewed Rep. Graham Hunt on 12/28 about the bill he is preparing:
http://kiroradio.com/listen/9996629/#. In addition, here is an article about this battle in Illinois: http://dailysignal.com/print?post_id=232615.
We will need your early and continuing support on this issue. It’s prayer, education and action time! You can contact your district legislators through this website:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/ and you can call the Legislative Hotline to express your opinion: 1-800-562-6000.
UPCOMING EVENT
MARCH FOR LIFE: Come join us on Tuesday, January 19, in Olympia to march in support of the sanctity of human life from birth until natural death. We will gather on the sidewalk near the Capitol Building, then march at noon to a rally on the Capitol stairs. Watch for the CWA of Washington banner.
PRAYER
ENCOURAGE-A-LEGISLATOR!!! Prayer is a gift from God that reminds us this is His world and that His power exceeds all else in this world. The Encourage-A-Legislator program asks you to send a prepared message (approved by CWA) to a legislator each week of the Washington State Legislative Session (9 weeks for 2016), AND to pray for this person while they are in Olympia. The session begins NEXT Monday, January 11, and we need thirty more people to cover only half of the Senate and half the House of Representatives with prayer and encouragement. These people will be called to make tough choices and face opposition from entrenched interest groups. Please prayerfully consider raising them up in prayer for this short time. If you’re not able to write the postcards, please tell us, arrangements can be made so you can bow with us in prayer, while the legislature stands for our principles/rights/freedoms. Click here for the form.
Please contact the EAL coordinators by e-mail: cwa-ealcoor@comcast.net or call the Washington State CWA Director’s office: 425-869-1923. Thank you.
If you have not yet renewed your CWA of Washington membership, please use the attached form to do so and encourage others to join as well. Thank you for standing fast in the faith with Concerned Women for America!