Because I have been so widely misrepresented concerning the events of March 3, the Muslim prayer affair, I believe it is necessary for me to give the people in my district my account of what really happened.

First of all, I did not leave the floor during the prayer by the Imam. I left the floor before his prayer and stayed out of the House chamber for his entire prayer. This was done as a matter of personal preference and with no intention of making any statement. At the time, it was a non-event. There were about 20 or 30 others who were outside the chamber for the event with me.

My remark to the reporter about mainstream Islam not professing to be anti-American but spawning hate-America groups was about Islam in other countries. This reporter admitted to me in a phone call Tuesday after I had read her article that she knew this and also knew I had not walked out during the prayer. I am not going to presume to speculate on her motivation for writing her article the way she did.

Because it became obvious on Tuesday that offences had been generated by the REPORTS of what happened Monday, I decided to apologize for the offences received from the REPORTS. I had not intended any disrespect or offence to anyone. I respect people’s right to hold any religious belief, whether similar or dissimilar to my own. But I felt I had a certain responsibility for these offences since I had granted the interview with the Seattle reporter. I made this apology on Wednesday morning.

On Friday, I felt that I did not have the privilege that I had enjoyed on Monday, of making a private decision to stay off the floor for the same Imam’s prayer; so stood at my desk in support of his freedom of religion. I stood respectfully at my desk, looking straight ahead.

Representative Lois McMahan,
R-Olalla