All three agree there are real issues needing attention
The three lawmakers who represent State Legislative District 3 (central Spokane) conducted a telephone town hall event during the evening of February 18. Two of them — Senator Marcus Riccelli and Representative Timm Ormsby — are co-sponsors of the legislation to establish a Washington State Commission on Boys and Men (SB 5446 / HB 1266).
Greg Naker is a teacher for Spokane Public Schools, and he serves as the outreach coordinator for Spokane Fatherhood Initiative. Participating in the town hall, Greg asked the legislators about their reasons for supporting the bill and what they think it will take to achieve a public hearing for it.
We are delighted that Greg (and by extension Spokane Fatherhood Initiative) cooperated with us on making the most of this opportunity to prompt elected officials to speak publicly about the commission on boys and men proposal. We’re delighted, too, that not just one but all three Democratic legislators on the call spoke up with their thoughts. Have a listen.
Spokane Fatherhood Initiative is one over several fatherhood-oriented nonprofit organizations that are endorsing the legislation to create a state commission on boys and men. A wide variety of other organizations are endorsing it too, including ones that facilitate youth mentoring, ones focused on suicide prevention, ones focused on uplifting Native American people, and many others.
Highlights from the telephone town hall event
Senator Marcus Riccelli (D-Spokane)
- “As the father of both a younger son and daughter, there are a lot of issues that are similar, and there are a lot of issues that are unique. I think we should be very inclusive in how we’re trying to look at things.”
- “The statistics that young men and boys are facing a lot of mental health challenges and a lot of other things statistically are something that need to be part of the policy interventions and the funding that we look at, as we’re trying to bring everybody up and lift everybody up.”
- “I come from a health care perspective. Our young people are facing mental health challenges today like in no other time in our history.”
Representative Timm Ormsby (D-Spokane)
- “Greg [with Spokane Fatherhood Initiative], I want to thank you for your efforts to keep families strong and fathers’ relationships with their kids [strong].”
- “I think — as Senator Riccelli alluded to — this is a matter of socializing the need for this.”
- “A lot of times good concepts take a while to catch on and get traction. I think support is growing.”
Representative Natasha Hill (D-Spokane)
- “I’ll just add briefly — being the woman here who did not actually sign on to support this bill — I do think it’s important especially for organizations like yours, which I am familiar with, to really reach out and meet with other organizations so we have a better understanding of what the goals are.”
- “Sometimes we get caught up in optics, that this looks like a prioritization or focus on men’s rights, without delving into the layers that you’re referencing — where these are real concerns and real issues — when we’re also in a climate where there are direct attacks against women and people of color and our immigrant community. So I just wanted to be candid about my impression of the bill being very different than my delegation who just spoke.”
- “Because we have so many interests that are competing right now and we have such big budget issues, sometimes we just need more information, more clarification, more storytelling behind what was the genesis for this, so that we’re not having bad optics or not seeing the full picture of what’s being accomplished here.”
- “Not to minimize the concerns and issues that this bill is looking to address, but I do think that looking beyond creating a commission for men, and looking at ways to incorporate these issues into other existing policy around equity and inclusion would be another way that could also help us meet the goals that this bill is trying to meet.”
See also: Major Spokane TV Station Airs Series on ‘Saving Our Sons’