What Does a Software Engineer say about I-001 & I-638?

Suresh Chanmugam has worked as a software engineer in Seattle since 1999 and is a steering committee member of Tech 4 Housing.

Stop MAGA From Taking Over Washington, Vote No on I-645, I-001, and I-638

I was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to immigrant parents. I moved to Seattle in 1999 to work as a software engineer in large part due to the progressive values cultivated by Washington State. My wife and I are grateful to the communities and culture here, where we’ve been able to raise 3 children who attend public schools in diverse communities. One of the reasons we are raising our kids here is Washington’s commitment to inclusion. Our state was one of the first to pass marriage equality, and we have strong laws against discrimination. 

I deeply appreciate that the tech industry in Washington is considered a safe, welcoming place for LGBTQIA+ people, particularly our transgender friends and colleagues, who face escalating threats to their very right to existence. More parents, including many of our tech colleagues, say they are moving here to protect their children from draconian laws that are linked to increases in suicide rates. 

But, near-trillionaire Elon Musk, through his “America PAC,” is fanning the flames against the transgender community by spending hundreds of millions of dollars running anti-trans political ads in elections around the country to try to drive swing voters to vote Republican. Most voters agree that this strategy is using hate to try to distract us from the high cost of groceries, gas, housing, and healthcare.

Now, right here in blue Washington State, multi-millionaire hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, through his PAC Let’s Go Washington, is using the same MAGA playbook. Heywood and his posse of right-wing uber rich supporters are bankrolling three harmful ballot measures before Washington voters this election, and two of them put a target on the backs of LGBTQIA+ children, a particularly malicious tactic. 

Here’s what to know about each one:

Initiative 638 (IL26-638 on your ballot) is the most extreme policy of its kind in the country, and that’s saying a lot when red states like Idaho, Florida, Tennessee, Kansas, Utah, and Iowa have passed dozens of laws restricting civil rights, freedoms and access to care for transgender people. To exclude and humiliate trans girls from sports, I-638 would require all girls to undergo sex inspections to play elementary, middle, or high school sports. Doctors say to be in compliance with this new rule, they will have to conduct invasive genital exams on young girls or expensive genetic and hormone testing that is unlikely to be covered by insurance because it is not medically-necessary. (And in blatant discrimination, only girls would be required to undergo potentially harmful sex inspections because the initiative exempts boys.)

Initiative 001 (IL26-001) is an anti-parents rights, anti-LGBTQIA+ measure. As a parent of three Seattle Public Schools teenagers, I know the facts: parents already have the right to information about their child, including the right to opt them out of certain curriculum or programs, and to talk to teachers, school counselors or nurses about their concerns.

While most kids have a safe loving home, sadly not all do. There were more than 115,000 reports of child abuse in Washington state in 2024 alone. As someone deeply involved with work to address our housing crisis, I have seen that the majority of homeless youth are LGBTQIA+ kids who have been kicked out or left their home because they didn’t feel safe there. I-001 will make this crisis worse, and is a direct threat to the safety of vulnerable young children who need confidential access to trusted, trained professionals like school counselors. 

Initiative 645 (IP26-645) is an extension of Musk and the billionaire bros who successfully lobbied the Trump Administration for policies that benefit themselves, Heywood is also trying to buy a tax cut for himself and other extremely wealthy individuals by repealing Washington’s new Millionaire’s Tax. The tax itself is very popular with the majority of voters in part because it pays for B&O tax cuts for small businesses (including small tech startups) and cuts the regressive sales taxes that impact working families. It raises billions for schools, childcare, free meals for K-12 students, and tax rebates for working families. Having grown up in Louisiana, a state notorious for underfunded public schools, it’s appalling to me that Washington’s public school system isn’t much better. Our schools are chronically underfunded due to our state’s upside down tax code and I-645 will make it worse.

I’m tired of the false narrative that workers and businesses are leaving the state because of the Millionaire’s Tax. Skilled workers don’t want to leave Washington and move to Tennessee or Texas where they could face jail time and even death because they had a miscarriage. In fact, Starbucks, Oracle, and others have struggled to convince their employees to leave Washington. Over one hundred Seattle Starbucks employees chose to have their job eliminated rather than move their family to a red state. Oracle moved its headquarters to Nashville and added only seven net new employees there last year. Austin is declining as a tech hub. The Seattle metro region is the 2nd largest tech hub in the country, but passing these initiatives would risk a tech talent flight to communities with stronger human rights protections like the Bay Area, New York City, Boston, and Northern Virginia. Political initiatives like I-645, I-001, and I-638 aren't just harmful to marginalized members of our community; they're also bad for business.

I urge my tech colleagues to say no to Brian Heywood and his attempt to distract us from the real problems caused by MAGA politicians, like exorbitant groceries, escalating rents, disappearing health care, and a reckless war that has killed innocent civilians and caused permanent destruction of business data that was supposed to have 99.999999999% (11 nines) of durability. Rejecting Heywood’s initiatives is one way we can protect all children’s rights, health, safety, educational, and economic opportunities.