Gay Anti-discrimination Legislation
Hutcherson has repeatedly opposed state anti-discrimination laws. On February 9, 2006, Tim Eyman lodged referendum Initiative 65 which sought a public vote to repeal the Murray Anderson Civil Rights Bill before it could take effect on June 7, 2006. Hutcherson supported the initiative and conducted petition signature gathering at his Antioch Bible Church. When the June 6, 2006 deadline arrived the campaign announced they had failed to collect the 112,400 signatures required to qualify for the ballot.
Still focused on overturning anti-discrimination protection for gays and lesbians, Hutcherson lodged his own ballot initiative on January 19, 2007. Initiative 963 proposed removing any reference to sexual orientation or sexual preference from existing anti-discrimination legislation and required 224,800 valid signatures be collected by the July 6, 2007 deadline to qualify for the ballot.
On January 27, 2007, The Seattle Times reported that Hutcherson had allied with a network of churches, including Watchmen on the Walls, that are tied to conservative evangelical Slavic communities in Washington State and California that have been active in anti-gay causes. The stated purpose of this alliance was to collect signatures for initiative 963 to overturn the recently passed state law that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
On June 29, 2007, Hutcherson told The Seattle Times that he had dropped the initiative some months earlier at the urging of Pastor Joe Fuiten, who argued that the time was not right for the campaign and asked instead for his help in opposing domestic partnership rights for gay and lesbian couples.
Read more about this topic: Ken Hutcherson, Gay Rights Opposition
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