They ran off The Devil last night over at Town Hall.
But who was The Devil and who was doing the running was a matter of perspective; and both perspectives were capably presented and each had its own hallelujah choir packing the hall.
It was County Executive Ron Sims and Rev. Ken Hutcherson debating the question, "Is the gay rights movement the new civil rights movement?" It was an entertaining evening.
Hutcherson is the black former Seahawk cum Eastside megachurch preacher who led local and national anti-gay rallies; and bullied Microsoft last year to defeat a gay rights bill in the Legislature. He's a friend of Rush Limbaugh, and James Dobson and a charismatic Christian zealot with the charm and temperament of one of the Rottweillers he raises.
(Hutcherson also has a German-made wife, raises Arabian Horses and a small herd of chirrens on his Woodinville estate).
Sims, a seasoned politician and policy virtuoso who just won a third term, is an ordained Baptist himself, and just as black. But there's a world of difference between them- their Christianities are like brothers of a different mother or twins who wouldn't recognize each other if they met on the street.
In 2004, Sims encouraged gay couples to sue King County because gay marriage is not legal. He did that to send the matter to the state Supreme Court, where it yet awaits a decision. That alarmed Hutcherson and inspired him to organize his "Mayday for Marriage" rally in Safeco Field which drew 20,000 souls from around the state and another in Washington DC just before the 2004 election which brought out around 150,000.
BlatherWatch filed into one of the tiny backstage blue rooms with Sims, and his communications guy, Sandeep Kaushik to wait for the show to begin. Sims was his amiable self, chatting easily about general topics that might arise in the debate ahead.
The event was sponsored by The Stranger, the idea of News Editor Josh Feit, who was nervously haunting the back hall. Feit said he'd lost arguments for years playing devil's advocate to each of the reverends, so he figured, "What the hell, let's get 'em together." It was a pretty good idea and Town Hall had to move the event into the large auditorium which ended up packed.
Stranger Editor Dan Savage dropped by but had to leave early to get home to read to his son TJ, the spawn of his same sex marriage that Rev. Hutcherson is pretty sure he'll eventually burn in an eternal lake of fire for. Savage seemed relaxed considering all that...(we've always wondered, how do they keep that lake of fire going? Old tires? Presto logs?)
KING TV's Robert Mak, who was refereeing the debate dropped in and announced the format. There was to be an introduction from each man and after that, pretty much- no structure. Sims said, "No structure? Hey, I'm a Democrat..."
They gave us the signal and we filed out into the narrow hallway where we ran into Hutcherson and his posse. His church is mostly white- it's held, after all, in Kirkland's Lake Washington High School gym. They scare up some 3000 worshipers in two sessions of a Sunday morning.
His security help were thuggish in the way only fundamentalist Christian security can be- pushy, white, dressed in Christian gangsta wear, and earpieces that might have been iPods filled with Antonius or direct links to the White House basement. They gave out those vibes, the kind we'd gotten off the homeys guarding Jerry Falwell we saw once at a Sizzler in Pasco.
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