Quick thought on R-71

06-22-09

The Washington state Referendum 71 petition has been out now for several days looking for people to sign it so that they can ask voters to repeal the recently passed “anything but marriage” law that gave same-sex partners vitually all the same benefits of hetero married couples except for the title.

Equal Washington, a coalition of several LGBT and LGBT-allied groups have banded together to form a “Decline to Sign” campaign in order to prevent the measure from going to the ballor. According to David Goldstein over at Horse’s Ass, these types of campaigns have proved to be very successful in the past.

However, my question is do we (the LGBT/Allied/Progressive community ) really want to see it off the ballot? Considering the incredibly truncated time frame in which their supporters have had to gather signatures, doesn’t that give them all the more incentive to come back next session and try this again? Wouldn’t a better strategy be to get it on the ballot now, defeat it with a comfortable margin, and end this argument for the time being?

I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.

It’s Only a Matter of Time (blakehuggins.com)
Gregoire praises controversial Obama domestic partner move (seattlepi.com)
The growing debate surrounding WhoSigned.org (mardod.com)

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mardod

Thanks for writing.

Oh no, I didn't mean to imply that the movement shouldn't fight for every inch of land they can get, but just that I believe that by winning this battle before it reaches the ballot, we're going to have to fight it all over again next year as the R-71 advocates will have a decent reason to claim they didn't have a fair chance to put their case to the voters.

But I suspect you;re right that we're looking at a federal one ruling on this one way or the other soon. But I don;t think the anti- forces will allow it to protect that long. I think we'll see a ruling before the 10-year mark.

liv

I think we're on the verge of a federal ruling... when I say verge- maybe the next 10 years... but I think it's a mistake to not protect every bit of rights we have. It's an opportunity to address, educate and spread the love so to speak.

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