Crosscut

Washington State Senate Bill 5462 would require the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the state's education agency, to update learning standards to include the histories, perspectives and contributions of LGBTQ+ people.

A significant part of Washington State University’s story is that it was founded with profits from land taken from 21 Indigenous nations, including the Yakama Nation and others. That transfer of wealth, which has amounted to more than $1 billion since the 1880s according to an investigation by Grist, continues today.

Washington is getting a sustained taste of the national culture wars. The pandemic era’s protests against school closures and vaccinations have given way to a push by some on the right against curricula and policies concerning LGBTQ+ individuals and people of color.

In June, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear in its ruling on 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis that the state of Colorado cannot enforce its public-accommodation laws with Lorie Smith, the web designer who does business as 303 Creative, as the regulations violated her free-speech protections. Advocates, legal scholars and government officials have plenty of questions about what a case from Colorado could mean for businesses in Washington for LGBTQ rights.

As libraries throughout the country face increasing calls to ban young adult books that cover race and LGBTQ+ issues, one in a rural district east of Walla Walla faces a challenge to its very existence.

A coalition of reproductive-rights advocates is suing the state of Idaho over a new law banning interstate travel related to abortion, arguing the law violates constitutional protections for free speech and travel.

Spokane County leaders are looking for new ways to address the growing issue weeks after Camp Hope, once the state’s largest encampment, shuttered.