Hands Off Washington, Kitsap County Coalition records, 1992-1996

The Hands Off Washington Kitsap County Coalition, based in Bremerton, Washington, was a regional division of the statewide Hands Off Washington, a program of Washington Citizens for Fairness. Washington Citizens for Fairness was formed in 1992 as a not-for-profit, political organizing committee "to defeat political efforts to limit or deny the civil rights of any resident in our state." In 1994, the group formed Hands Off Washington (HOW) to defeat legislation that would deny civil rights to individuals based on their "actual or perceived sexual orientation." Targeted legislation included Initiative 608, which opposed the establishment of sexual orientation as a protected category similar to age or race; Initiative 166 (similar to 608); and Initiative 167, which was intended to ban adoptions by homosexual individuals or couples. Initiative 608 was defeated in 1995, and Initiatives 166 and 167 were defeated in the following year. Hands Off Washington's name refers to the fact that much of this legislation was proposed and supported by the same anti-gay activists who proposed similar initiatives that passed in Oregon.