Democratic Leaders Joe Fitzgibbon and Monica Stonier Comment on Commission on Boys and Men Idea

KING-5 News reporter Drew Mikkelsen asked Democratic leaders about House Bill 1270 during a media session on February 14, 2023. The 3-minute video below shows the complete responses from Representative Joe Fitzgibbon (D-West Seattle) and Representative Monica Jurado Stonier (D-Vancouver) about the idea of creating a Commission on Boys and Men.

Shortly after Majority Leader Fitzgibbon and Majority Floor Leader Stonier made these comments, The Center Square and KING-5 News both published stories about HB 1270:

KING-5 Reporter Asks Democratic Leaders to Comment on Commission on Boys and Men Idea (video published by WIBM)

Transcript of the question and responses

Drew Mikkelsen (KING-5 Reporter): Thank you all for your time. I had a question for the House members joining us today. Representative Dye has a bill that would create a commission on boys and men to provide research and resources for young men, older men, to look at suicide, violence, addiction, homelessness — issues that predominantly are more dominant for males. And she said that she’s had a hard time getting any support behind it from the Democrats. Representative Ramos, who’s the chair of that particular committee, says it won’t have a hearing and he would not offer an explanation why.

Why is that a bad idea? Why don’t we want to have a commission that would look at solving some of those problems for young and older men?

Representative Joe Fitzgibbon (D-West Seattle): I think we do recognize that there are some disparities in terms of, I think Drew you mentioned suicide, between boys and girls, men and women. I think we want to be really careful that the solutions that we bring forward to help reduce incidents of, for example youth suicide or gun violence, are solutions that we don’t narrowcast to just the segment of our society that’s been historically most advantaged.

While we know that in some ways men and boys are facing some challenges that are more acute relative to girls and women than they have in the past, and non-binary folks tend to be the folks who face the greatest challenges, whether in terms of employment, discrimination, violence….and I think we generally take the outlook that the solutions to, for example, gun violence, would benefit boys, girls, non-binary folks. And that’s the approach that I think that both Chair Ramos and other members of our caucus have taken to solving some of those problems.

Representative Monica Jurado Stonier (D-Vancouver): I will also add that Representative Dye has done a nice job of working to pitch her case to other members around the body. I’ve seen titles of books floating around. I know she had guests around working to try and advocate.

I think this is the first time that I’ve heard of this approach, and I agree with the majority leader’s approach to a more inclusive attempt to solve these issues. But Representative Dye has done a nice job of making the case to members. Sometimes it takes a while for an idea to take hold.

I appreciate a more broad and inclusive approach to addressing some of these issues that the House and the Senate, controlled by Democrats, has already led on.

Move to create ‘Commission on Boys and Men’ running out of time (video published by KING-5 News)

See related: Update on the Campaign for a Commission on Boys and Men | HB 1270