73 seniors stand up for gays

Tim Eyman may think he has his anti-gay-rights referendum all sewn up, after some preachers took to their pulpits on Sunday and urged people to sign.

But there's one little group Eyman didn't count on: Christian seniors. Members of the Panorama Democratic Study Group — based at a retirement community in Lacey — have created and signed a petition opposing Eyman's Referendum 65, which seeks to repeal a new anti-discrimination law that protects gays and lesbians.

"We wanted the world to know that there are a lot of Christians who wouldn't go along with this," said Jim Smucker, 85, the group's vice chairman

I drove to Lacey to meet Smucker, and bear witness to seniors who don't have to stand up for anything but golf and doctor's appointments. But there they were — 73 names, to be exact — fighting back for gays and lesbians.

"People assume that most old people would be biased against homosexuality as a legitimate lifestyle," he said. "But there's a lot of hidden support that doesn't come out unless you give people a chance.

"That's what we did here."

Smucker has a long, liberal background. He's a former state executive of the United Church of Christ and a former minister at Seattle's Plymouth Congregational Church.

So when Eyman went after gay rights, Smucker's activism kicked up like an old war wound.

"I was so angry," he said. "Obviously, [Eyman] saw a chance for publicity and to get in with a conservative group."

Smucker says he has "a great respect" for gays and lesbians, and counts many as his friends.

"Old people are different," he said. "After they've been sitting in a meeting for an hour, they don't want to stand in line to sign something. They want to go home."

But not this time. This time they stood and waited and signed their names in sometimes shaky script, and listed their addresses — carefree names like Leisure Lane and Marina Drive.

Smucker has forwarded a copy to state lawmakers.

If there has been anger toward him in Panorama, Smucker said, he hasn't felt it.

"I have always had some good friends who tell me, quite gently, to go jump in the lake."

Orma Bedzis, a member of the Panorama Republicans, supports Eyman: "He has been doing a service to people who don't really have a voice.

"The people in the Legislature don't represent a lot of us."

Bedzis doesn't oppose the anti-discrimination law; she just doesn't think it's necessary.

"I am not aware of any violence against people who have a different sexual orientation," she said. "I have known people who were homosexual and I have no feeling against them."

Even though the petition will make nary a ripple in the coming statewide debate over gay rights, it's heartening to know that seniors are standing up and signing in shaky script for people they have known — and those they never will.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

What would Tim's grandma say?