Stories from the ACLU of Washington

“GOP Senate hopeful latest to endorse legal pot” proclaimed an Associated Press report carried by media statewide yesterday.  It came after Michael Baumgartner, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate who is a state senator from Spokane, announced that he is supporting Initiative 502 – citing his experience as an advisor to a counternarcotics team in Afghanistan.

Marriage for same-sex couples is on the ballot in four states this November, and it will be a pivotal moment for the LGBT movement. In Maine, Maryland and Washington voters have the opportunity to expand the freedom to marry to same-sex couples; and Minnesota voters could make that state the first ever to defeat a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.  Even a single ballot box win would change the national debate and would reinforce the polls showing growing majorities across the country that support marriage for committed same-sex couples.

The ACLU is working on educating Washington citizens about who is eligible to vote and how one can register to vote.  You can help: Take our voting rights quiz and share it with others.

Washington state’s war on marijuana has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade. Every one of Washington’s 39 counties has spent millions of dollars enforcing these laws.

On last Tuesday evening, community members gathered at Southside Commons in Seattle to hear leaders of faith discuss the problem of mass incarceration. The panel was comprised of SpearIt, an assistant law professor at St. Louis University, Pastor Carl Livingston, founder of Kingdom Christian Center, and Reverend Paul Benz, Co-Director of Faith Action Network. A recent forum in Seattle made some vital connections for people concerned about the enormous volume of people in our criminal justice system. Its topic: "Faith Communities and Mass Incarceration."