Sims' Knock-Knock Joke
On Friday, with his gubernatorial kickoff just a few days away and with gay rights activists preparing to march on his office, King County Executive Ron Sims' staff went into high gear. They needed a plan that would allow Sims to maintain liberal credibility in King County without alienating the rest of the state.
Sims hatched a plan: Six handpicked gay couples would apply for marriage licenses, get turned down, and then sue the county with Sims' approval. So, with the press corralled into the lobby on Monday morning, the gay couples knocked. Sims swung the licensing office door open, and welcomed the couples in with a theatrical sweep of his arm. "I welcome these individuals today who wish to obtain a license," Sims said. It was clever: Sims could tell liberals he supported the lawsuit, while telling voters east of the Cascades that he was being sued by the gays.
I'm not sure if the people in Pend Oreille County will fall for Sims' move, but I didn't. What does it mean that Sims "welcomes" the lawsuit? Somebody was going to sue eventually whether Sims was hospitable or not.
Sims, however, played up the doorway imagery: "I can remember the searing images of elected officials... blocking doors.... That is why... I was not going to fold my arms, and say, 'You have no rights here.'"
It's hard to resist civil-rights era parallels lately, so I understand why Sims sought to contrast himself to George Wallace. And certainly, Sims' speech about discrimination deserves props. But does Sims have his analogy straight? Southern governors didn't simply stand in school doorways--they formally tried to keep black students out. Yes, Sims opened the licensing office door, but he didn't let the couples obtain licenses. In reality, they "had no rights there."
Sims says he's powerless. "There is a law in the state of Washington," he says. "It doesn't mean I like it; it means I have no choice."
Again, the civil-rights era analogy is useful. During the 1955-1956 Montgomery bus boycott, the bus-company manager sounded the same excuse: "[We're] sorry the colored people blame us for any state or city ordinance which we didn't... pass.... [But] we have to obey all the laws."
Like the bus manager, Sims actually does have a choice. On Monday morning, Mayor Greg Nickels made an issue of the state's anti-gay law, saying, "The state Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA]"--which bars Seattle from recognizing gay marriages granted elsewhere--"would seem to violate the equal-protection clause" of the state constitution. Nickels' ordinance forces the issue by requiring the city and its contractors to recognize legal same-sex marriages from places like Portland.
Nickels righteously starts from the premise that the state's DOMA is wrong, and he put the burden on DOMA supporters to defend the anti-gay law. Sims, by contrast, starts from the premise that DOMA is a legitimate law, and he puts the burden on supporters of gay marriage. So Sims is standing in the doorway. He just has a smile on his face.
