No Hate in WA State Campaign Kickoff Draws Crowd 400+ To defeat IL 26-001 and IL 26-638
Last night the No Hate in WA State officially kicked off the campaign season to a crowd of more than 400 people. The event, held at Neumos in Seattle, featured Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, King County Executive Zahilay, Seattle City Councilmember Dionne Foster, and Jaelynn Scott, a national leader in the fight for race and gender equity and community organizer.
Speakers at the event highlighted the harms that these initiatives would cause to Washington students:
“For a young person to play sports, they have to get invasive genital examinations - that’s disgusting! It’s so inappropriate, and that’s not the kind of world that I want my daughters to grow up in,” said King County Executive Zahilay, speaking on the genital exams that IL 26-638 would require girls to get in order to play sports. Executive Zahilay also called out the fact that IL 26-001 removes common-sense protections for victims of child abuse and could allow parents under criminal investigation or who have been charged with raping, assaulting, or otherwise harming their own child to access sensitive information that could put kids at greater risk.
“Nobody in here wants to diminish the rights of parents. I don't want the government telling me what to do with my child. But we always know that we're navigating complexities here, right? We have to draft our laws in a way that allow us to navigate this incredibly careful tight rope. We have to balance the rights of loving parents with the additional life-saving duty to protect the safety of youth who are victims of domestic violence and child abuse,” said Zahilay.
“Trump megadonor Brian Heywood wants to bring the hate that they’ve been trying to spread in Congress and across the country. He wants to bring it here to our state. One of these initiatives forces our schools to out LGBTQIA+ kids to the very families that might throw them out. And the other, literally forces these invasive, disgusting exams on every girl who wants to play a sport. No kid should have to go through something like that to play a game that they love. That is not the Washington I believe in. That is not the United States I believe in,” said Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.
“[Heywood is] funding anti-trans initiatives and trying to rob our state of the revenue to take care of basic services for all Washingtonians. It's not just about transphobia. It's about money and politics and the ability of one rich man and oligarchs to usurp our democracy. They want us fighting over here on trans rights, and they want Black folks fighting over here and they want other people fighting on revenue. They're trying to divide us, divide our labor, divide our movement, divide our resistance,” said Jaelynn Scott, a national leader in the fight for race and gender equity and community organizer.
About No Hate in WA State:
No Hate in WA State is a campaign of parents, medical professionals, teachers, students, and community members saying no to hate, bullying, and harassment in Washington State.
While Washington families are struggling to pay for food, housing, and health care, a MAGA mega-donor is spending millions to distract Washingtonians with two harmful initiatives (IL26-001, IL26-638). These poorly written initiatives will threaten the safety of all Washington students, putting them at greater risk of harm at home and at school. Together, we are working to uphold Washington’s belief that everyone should be safe and treated fairly, and to ensure that schools remain places where all students can learn, grow, and thrive together.
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