Anyone else out there catch the hearing for House Bill 2661 this morning in the Washington State House of Representatives? Anyone else feel like they needed a shower afterward, or maybe electro-shock therapy — something, anything to cleanse the mind of that parade of dim citizens whose objections to the gay civil rights bill were eloquently summed up by a man who identified himself as Alex. His testimony to lawmakers went like this:

“House Bill 2661 is not the answer. Jesus is the answer.”

And that, my friends, was basically the beginning, middle, and end of the intellectual argument against the bill — at least as the argument was articulated by the fine citizens of Washington State who got themselves to Olympia at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday morning to encourage lawmakers not to protect homosexuals against discrimination.

One of my favorite moments came when a man wearing a USA baseball cap addressed the State Government Operations & Accountability Committee, telling them that he had proof that homosexuality is a condition easily remedied, and therefore in no need of protection from discrimination. His proof? LUGS.

“Do you know what LUGS are?” he asked the legislators. I was watching the live online feed, so I couldn’t tell whether or not the question drew knowing nods from lawmakers. The man continued, explaining LUGS are Lesbians Until Gradution, a trend he finds courageous in its ultimate rejection of lesbianism (albeit after four years of dorm-room scissor sistering). For an anti-gay activist he seemed to have a surprisingly intimate knowledge of LUG goings on. But don’t they all these days?

The median age of the bill’s opponents seemed to be about 55, which once again reminded me that the struggle for gay rights is as much about changing people’s minds as it is about waiting for an older generation of permanently closed minds to die off. And the median education level of the opponents was, I’d guess, not very high, based on the amount of illogic on display — and on the number of times the committee chair had to simply cut people off because they couldn’t make their arguments without resorting to the type of derogatory language she’d told them at the outset wouldn’t fly.

Not in attendance: Rev. Ken Hutcherson, who supposedly is so upset about the support the bill is getting from Microsoft, Boeing, and other major companies that he’s launching a national boycott. Perhaps “Hutch” was too busy fielding media calls to show.