Dishonor Roll - Features - The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper
Gays in the Back
by
Josh Feit
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Tony Millionare
A funny thing happened on the way to Washington State
Supreme Court Justice Barbara Madsen's decision in Andersen v. King County.
Madsen, who wrote the plurality opinion that upheld Washington's Defense of
Marriage Act, scored straight As in her 2004 interview with SEAMEC, the GLBT
committee that interviews and rates candidates on behalf of the gay
community.
Madsen, formerly a Seattle municipal judge who started out as a prosecuting
attorney with the Seattle City Attorney's Office, was first elected to the state
supreme court in 1992. Madsen has an even-keeled record on the court, getting
high marks from both the Association of Washington Business—she got their
highest score—and liberals as well for her votes on environmental issues,
liability law, public-disclosure laws, and criminal-justice issues.
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She also got high marks from gays: again, straight As.
How did Madsen—a justice who upheld DOMA because "the legislature was
entitled to believe that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples furthers
procreation, essential to survival of the human race"—score straight As with
gays?
Well, judging from the notes taken by SEAMEC's interviewers and judging from
the questionnaire filled out by Madsen herself, Madsen snowed the gay
community.
The SEAMEC questionnaire presents a series of statements that the candidate
is supposed to mark with an A (for Agree) and D (for Disagree) or a Q (for
Qualified). Check out some of Madsen's answers:
SEAMEC questionnaire: The purpose of marriage is for the nurturing of
children. Madsen: Disagree.
SEAMEC questionnaire: Same-sex marriage is a threat to the institution of
marr
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