Thanks for this, and for getting this all rolling with Dan in the first place.

well said. It's extremely embarrassing that we here in Seattle, where we really have very few fundamental idealogical differences, can't do any better than the gridlock we all blame on republicans in D.C. Nickels at least got things done.

Do it!

Sign it so we can focus on more important things, like how our community is going to fight like hell for our Russian brothers and sisters.

Hear, hear!

Well done. Now we just gotta get the council to fucking sign it.

This is very misleading. The South Africa resolutions actually committed the City to action within its control. The City invests billions of dollars on behalf of retirees, and these resolutions divested the City's own investments from corportions doing business in South Africa. The City could not have taken action without City Council action.

By contrast, this is just spitting in the wind. The City Council has zero control over or responsibility for the Russian government. Why stop at Russia? Why not move on to Iran, Uganda, and North Korea. What about a resolution denouncing today's House vote on Obamacare? Why not weigh in on racial discrimination in federal sentencing guidelines?

I get that the Mayor badly needs some ink for his re-election campaign and the Stranger needs click-throughs, but I have not seen a single reason for having the City Council get involved in this issue and not in hundreds (or thousands) of others. Are LGBT Russians in worse shape than kids gassed to death by Assad? Or Bangladeshi workers who die in sweatshops? Why not resolutions on those?

"Do the right thing" is a pretty broad mandate for nine Councilmembers in a middling-sized American city.

@7, the fact that the Consul General asked the City to clarify its position has been said over and over again in the last week. It's repeated in the article above. Yet you insist upon treating this as though it's a crass political move by McGinn. Vote for Murray if you wish, but don't use this issue to campaign for him (and as far as that goes, Murray wants a resolution).

It's usually best to focus on one issue, the issue at hand. Your argument is like a family fight where everyone throws in the last arguments had over the past year.

@7 Have you been paying attention? The Russian Consul, here in Seattle, specifically asked if this (the Mayor's stance at the Consul rally) was the City of Seattle's official position. So, it's pretty clear the Council needs to answer, because silence is implied support for Russian brutality against their LGBT citizens.

@8/10: Well, if the Russian Consul General is telling the Mayor to do something, then he better well get the City Council to do it! After all, we wouldn't want to upset the Russian Consul General. My goodness! Good answer!

Sally Clark wrote a response to this about an hour and a half ago on her blog. Most of it was pretty well reasoned, but not quite convincing to me. The key sentence was where she said

"If the Mayor disagreed with me or if he thought this subject should be treated as an exception, he could have called me."

Making it clear to me that it is about pride rather than what is right. She wanted to be called by the mayor and not a staffer. She got her panties in a knot over something and now she has painted herself into a corner. The sooner she tears off the Band-Aid the better for her and everybody else.

Maybe McGinn should step up and call her in a disarming way just to get it done and move on.

BTW Sally Clark's blog is:
http://clark.seattle.gov/

If we need to do a resolution to make the point super clear, great, let’s do it — and let’s do it right.

Yes, we do. Thanks, @13.