The Backlash! - December 1994

Members of the Judiciary in Washington state have formed a Gender and Justice commission to study gender issues as they pertain to the law in general, and family law in particular. Jon Pielemeier, founder of the Men's Information Network, attended the most recent meeting, and what he observed is chilling.

Recently I sat in on the alleged Gender and Justice Commission meeting. Definitely an earful.

Guest speaker and new Chief Washington State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Durham set the tone for the discussion with her comment: "I just purchased a wonderful book called 101 Reasons Why A Cat Is Better Than A Man." She then strongly suggested that her fellow commission members purchase the book. All of the male members on the commission (a definite minority) were totally silent. Folks, this is our CHIEF SUPREME COURT JUSTICE! Speaking to the Commission on Gender and Justice!

Justice Durham then called domestic violence the "Mother of all violence." I wonder if she knew what she was saying there. "It is perpetrated," she continued, "on lots of women and children and perhaps occasionally on men. ... This is a wonderful time to take advantage of domestic violence since so many people are working on it."

She recommends mandatory domestic violence training for trial judges, expanding the facilitator program for women which should "give us more control over the system. ... Domestic Violence is the number one problem in our culture."

She then gave the oft-mentioned example of Ralph Crambden of The Honeymooners who was sometimes quoted to say to his wife, while shaking his fist, "To the moon, Alice, to the moon."

Much more happened after the esteemed guest speaker Duran left. For example, one of the commission members, Judge C. Kimi Kondo, suggested that perhaps the commission should investigate whether or not there is gender bias in the judicial system itself, stating that the last two managers in her district were white males. However, several people stated that in their districts, the managers were all female and that females were definitely in the majority. Judge Kondo smilingly suggested, "maybe we should look at it from the other side." I don't remember what exactly transpired after that (Dave stated that another significant statement was made), but the topic was quickly dropped after it was learned that there was no "bias."

This is a very terrifying commission that appears to have a tremendous agenda for Washington state.