I never expected to be silenced by the very groups that once stood for inclusion and free expression. But after speaking up for First Amendment rights, property rights, and honest debate, I find myself shut out—by “allies.” Identity politics and virtue signaling have replaced real dialogue with hypocrisy, and today’s self-appointed defenders of "democracy" are quickly becoming its censors.
We stay close to home during the summer. It’s the best time to be in Clallam County, so why would we leave? We might not go on vacation, but vacations come to us.
For years, our friends from California have visited with their two daughters—sweet, well-behaved girls, young enough to trick into doing farm chores. Every summer, it was a highlight to see how much they’d grown.
But earlier this spring, we got a sad text. They wouldn’t be coming this year. “We are a little hesitant about flying with all the weirdness going on these days,” said “Mom.” Her wife—our other friend—is “Mama.”
This lesbian couple isn’t visiting because they’re afraid someone might try to take their kids away at the airport. They’ve decided to “stay closer to home until we see how the dust settles with everything.”
We have a lot of gay friends here. Some are afraid to travel. One married couple told us about returning from Canada. At the border, a U.S. Customs officer questioned them: “What’s your relationship?”
“Friends,” they lied.
The agent noticed their shared address and kept probing. Our friends believe they were being harassed—because they’re gay, and because one of them is Jewish. They told my husband they fear we’re heading into an era where gay people will be rounded up, sent to camps, and that we may need to start hiding again. Doug and I just thought the customs agent was doing his job.
We’ve been married for four presidential terms. We’ve never felt threatened. I inherit his half if he dies, he gets to be in the hospital room with me, and if we divorce, he gets half this blog. We’ve never felt unsafe. So I was curious—where was all this fear coming from?
Enter: The League of Women Voters
Then I saw it.
The Clallam County League of Women Voters took out a quarter-page ad in the Peninsula Daily News. The message? That democracy and our rights are under attack.
According to the LWV, it’s the president who’s attacking me.
But don’t worry—they’ve spent a century positioning themselves to defend my rights and “protect democracy.”
I wrote the local LWV chapter in March. I told them I was the “G” in LGBTQIA+, and asked: Which of my rights have been under attack since Inauguration Day?
No response.
Funny—they didn’t have time to reply, but they had time to run a fearmongering ad in the paper and post on their website that they support me as a community member. They’re my “ally,” apparently.
Yes, our rights are under attack—but it’s not gay rights
I hated politics until 2023, when a sovereign nation tried to take a public road from the taxpayers who owned it and had maintained it for over a century. The road was Towne Road. The sovereign nation was the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.
The stated reasons kept shifting—salmon restoration, climate resiliency, treaty rights, "global input"—but none held water. The only consistent justification was: they wanted it.
Citizens have the right to use the infrastructure they pay for. That right almost disappeared.
While the right to public access on a public road isn’t a constitutional guarantee, it’s generally protected under state and local law, public trust doctrine, and property principles.
Private property rights under siege
In this country, private property is a right.
Yet in the 3 Crabs neighborhood, hundreds of homeowners are now fighting to keep their land. A movement—led by a sovereign nation and LWV activist Ann Soule—is calling for those residents to be evicted, and for yet another county road to be removed. This is all happening while ignoring clear data showing that the Jamestown Tribe’s estuary restoration project caused the coastal flooding issues.
The Fifth Amendment protects us:
"...nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
This is the Takings Clause—a core legal safeguard against government overreach.
Censorship from the Charter Review Commission
During my term as a Charter Review Commissioner, a League member has pushed to hold county meetings on sovereign lands—where free speech protections don’t apply.
I wrote about it here on CC Watchdog and all my sources were public record. But Commission Chair Susan Fisch—who also serves as LWV Secretary—brought commission progress to a grinding halt, using seven hours of public time and resources to try and strip me of my right to free speech.
She failed. But the message was clear: A Commissioner’s right to speak freely is not guaranteed under her leadership.
The CRC survey, which will shape the future of our county government, was drafted behind closed doors at the direction of Chairwoman Susan Fisch. The process lacked transparency. Citizens were shut out.
LWV says “democracy is at stake”? They’re right—but the problem is a little closer to home than Washington D.C.
The latest gag rule
At last Monday’s CRC meeting, Chairwoman Fisch—retired judge and LWV Secretary—took it a step further.
During public comment, she unilaterally banned residents from addressing individual commissioners by name.
Public comment is often the only opportunity people have to speak to their government. You can sing, read a poem, or yes, call out a commissioner by name. That’s your First Amendment right.
We have officials in local government who shouldn’t even be allowed to run an HOA, let alone craft the way our county governs itself. But if you try to hold them accountable—LWV calls that "undermining democracy."
The ally who turned on me
It’s always the ones who shout loudest about rights who are first in line to take them away.
It’s like a horror movie where the chainsaw-wielding killer chases the teens into the “safe house”—which turns out to be haunted.
I fought for gay rights. I was part of the Seattle Men’s Chorus during its outreach concerts, testifying to the power of love and the right to marry.
We won.
But now the movement that once stood for inclusion and acceptance has turned its back on police officers, Christians, conservatives, and anyone who doesn’t toe the ideological line.
A Pride Parade for some
When I returned to Sequim after 20 years in Seattle, the first local Gay Pride event was being planned. Organizers asked me, the gay guy who grew up here, to recommend someone to be Grand Marshal.
I suggested someone who was arguably the most beloved gay man in town—a perfect figure to unify the community.
They passed. Why?
He wasn’t “BiPOC.”
That’s Black, Indigenous, or a person of color. He was white.
That was the end of my involvement with Sequim Pride.
Redefining “ally”
Happy June. Hang your rainbow flags, wear your bracelets, put up signs telling gay folks they’re safe in your business.
But if you believe in private property rights, in public access to public infrastructure, in freedom of speech, and transparency in government—
I’m honored to call you my “ally.”
Last week, readers were asked if a sovereign nation like the Jamestown Tribe should have a role in shaping county policies and regulations that they themselves are not required to follow. Of 355 votes:
96% said, “No, policies should apply equally”
3% said, “Yes, they should participate”
1% were unsure or needed more information
Identity politics: politics in which groups of people having a particular racial, religious, ethnic, social, or cultural identity tend to promote their own specific interests or concerns without regard to the interests or concerns of any larger political group.
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