After a shocking removal, WA capitol memorial honoring LGBTQ lawmaker reinstalled

A memorial at Washington's capitol honoring the state's first openly gay legislator was replaced Friday morning after a temporary removal that shocked lawmakers in Olympia.

Just after sunrise, a handful of workers began planting a new tree and re-installing the memorial plaque honoring late state legislator Cal Anderson. Anderson, who served in both the House and Senate, was a decorated Vietnam War veteran and Washington's first openly gay lawmaker – remembered for championing LGBTQ civil rights, as well as issues like low-income housing and gun control.

Anderson served as a lawmaker after being appointed to a House seat representing the 43rd legislative district – covering several neighborhoods in Seattle – in 1987. He won re-election multiple times until he ran for a seat in the state Senate and won in 1994.

Less than a year after winning his Senate seat, Anderson died in 1995 from AIDS complications. The following year, his loved ones and political supporters gathered to plant a Japanese maple tree on the capitol's campus in his honor. The memorial was later moved to its current location just outside of the legislative building, and the maple was replaced with a Kwanzan flowering cherry tree.

But earlier this month, the memorial plaque and Kwanzan tree were unceremoniously removed – the tree was mostly dead, so it and three others nearby were cut down by the Department of Enterprise Services, the agency that manages capitol facilities.

Rep. Nicole Macri (D-Seattle) co-chairs the LGBTQ caucus and holds the same seat Anderson did. She was one of several people upset to learn about the memorial's removal after the fact – she said she often visits the site after intense legislative debates.