Support civil rights in November | As It Turns Out | October

Washington is once again in the national spotlight as we proceed through the referendum process aimed at a recent measure passed by the state Legislature – Senate Bill 5688, which increases domestic partnership rights.

SB 5688 is the latest expansion of “the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage.” Domestic partners are state-registered “same-sex couples, or any couple that includes one person age 62 or older.” It was signed into law by Gov. Christine Gregoire in May and was scheduled to take effect in July, but is now on hold.

Washington allows laws recently passed by Legislature to be approved or rejected by statewide vote if sufficient signatures are collected via referendum petition. Some socially conservative groups and politicians who opposed SB 5688 have rallied. Referendum 71 was initiated by the Washington Values Alliance to offer voters the opportunity to overturn the law. Implementation of SB 5688 was put on hold by circulation of the petition.

Referendum language can be confusing. To some, approving R-71 might seem like rejecting SB 5688. But since R-71 is actually being used to ask voters to approve or reject SB 5688, a vote to approve the referendum would be a vote to approve SB 5688.

Petition signatures were gathered and filed by R-71 sponsors and a verification process was completed at the Secretary of State’s office by Sept. 1. However, the validity of the number and the methods of acquiring the signatures were called into question. Some SB 5688 backers got perhaps overly protective of these new civil rights being withheld and created a Web site in which they planned to post names of those who signed the referendum.

R-71 sponsors feared retaliation from these backers of SB 8566 and brought suit to keep signer information from the public. A federal district judge in Tacoma, Benjamin Settle, issued a controversial preliminary injunction to block the release of any signer information. Settler cited harassment threats, First Amendment rights and a right to anonymously participate in the political process.

As this is written, Attorney General Rob McKenna, with the support of Secretary of State Sam Reed, has just formally appealed Settle’s injunction, hoping to get an immediate review because of time restraints of the November ballot – and a stay of the injunction.

The matter of most importance before Washington voters, nevertheless, is more about social responsibility. It’s about basic fairness. It’s about granting the diversity of our population the same civil rights that we ourselves possess.

No one can dictate to anyone else who to love or who to want to spend their lives with. So it is on the behalf of those domestic partners, gay or lesbian, who are quite literally holding their breath until they attain the same rights the rest of us take for granted, that we follow through to a successful end… approval of SB 8566, once again.

Ballots for the Nov. 3 general election are being mailed to voters. Are you registered to vote?

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