I hope they spend the entire $6,000,000 and Ref 73 goes down to ignominious defeat come November; serve them right.

The good thing about the referendum being on the ballot is that it will help turn out more liberals and Dems to the polls.

@2: Considering that NOM's entire annual budget is about $9M, if they seriously want to blow 20% - 65% in WA and almost certainly lose, I hope they do too. We can absorb that and protect smaller states where that money would have a larger impact.

Can't wait to vote yes on that.

APPROVE R-73.

Preserve marriage equality in WA State! APPROVE R-73

They're already Luntz-strategizing: voters tend to vote NO on initiatives they don't read or are unsure about, since saying "No" to a change seems safer (even though this measure has already been approved).

Is it true that no gay marriage bill has ever been approved by a public vote? (and that all current marriage-equality law has been enacted by legislature alone?) I haven't been able to find sources for that claim...

@7: Yeah, you should have posted that warning about initiatives in 2009 before we voted R-71, even though folks figured it out and overwhelmingly approved it.

R-71 became a surrogate for voting on marriage in this state. Pro-equality voters were told marriage would come after R-71 and anti-gay voters were told they'd be voting on marriage.

Been there, done that. Stay the course. Approve R-73.

hey gays

obviously approving this is the right thing to do, and i look forward to voting approve on it

now will you please keep the pothead in your life in your mind when you're at the polls and vote on the other right thing to do?

We all need to hammer this into every person we knows head. Change your email signature, remind your social networks, change your facebook and dare I say even your SLOG handle, volunteer with Washington United for Marriage, donate every dollar helps, our opponents are willing to spend as much as they have to, do not let them out spend equality.

http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3

-- God

For the Facebook slacktivists:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/231151286…

"Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart." Ecclesiastes 7:3

"The husband should fulfill his wife's sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband's needs." 1 Corinthians 7:3

"But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt," Exodus 7:3

"Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." Revelation 7:3

OK, so I don't really know how any of these deals with gay marriage. Have sex with your husband/wife is kind of relevant, but it doesn't clarify if your SO should be the opposite sex or not. God made Pharaoh do all that evil Blame God, not Pharaoh. Relevance to marriage? None.

But the first one? "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" That right there means GO HOME AND FIX YOUR OWN STRAIGHT MARRIAGE. Leave other people's gay marriages alone. Traditional marriage in danger? Maybe straight people should be looking at the beam in their own eyes. Newt for example. Or Santourm's swingin' wife.

So... I guess that'll have to be 120,577 names & address's of bigots for you --with the fully confirmed authority of the United States Supreme Court-- to publish & put online then, eh?

You guys might have to set up a whole new website just for that! (Is "str8nNarrowminded.org" taken already?)

What will NOM do with $6 million that will make me change my mind about marriage equality?

I can't wait for someone to approach me with one of these petitions (assuming they aren't collecting all the signatures at church). I will tell them to fuck off.

@15 & 19- the ballot language will say "Approve 73" although it may seem like "yes" & "Approve" are the same word people still get confused. It is important for us to keep repeating the Approve message.

@ 18 no need to swear just tell them firmly and politely "No because all families in Washington should be treated equally" holding the moral high ground will win us more friends and ultimately will ensure our victory.

Actually, if anyone asks you to sign their bigoted petition, start loudly, happily talking about how excited you are that Washington State is finally getting marriage equality. The more you go on making a scene, the more people avoid the confrontation. Most people dislike confrontations, and will not come near the petition signature gatherer.

#7, it is true that marriage fairness has to date never been voted in by the public in the US. Look at the states that currently marry same-sex couples and how they got there:
-- Massachusetts (courts)
-- Vermont (legislature)
-- New Hampshire (legislature)
-- Iowa (courts)
-- Connecticut (courts)
-- New York (legislature)
-- [California (courts) previously had marriage fairness, but then taken away by popular vote through Prop 8, now on appeal in the federal courts]

Maine had a referendum seeking to affirmatively establish marriage fairness, but it failed.

And going in the other direction, there have been about 30 state-level votes on "Defense of Marriage" laws or constitutional amendments, and the side of fairness has lost those all but one time (the one time was Arizona, which defeated such an amendment in 2006, but then passed one in 2008).

Approve R-73

As much as it galls me to have to vote on a civil rights issue, I CANNOT WAIT for that opportunity, should 120,577 bigots hand me the chance.

@22 - And I look forward to the opportunity of doing just that!! :-D

Approve Ref. 73 to tell the right they are wrong!

Referendum 74. http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Wa…

Wow!! 2-6 mil to stop marriage equality? That sure could feed and house alot of people living in tents due to our economy!

@25 more or less you seem to have it correct. We already went through this with Domestic Partnerships in '09. An initiative is completely independent of the legislature, but it still works by gathering enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

You gotta correct the referendum number. We'll be promoting R-74, not R-73.

http://www.auburn-reporter.com/news/1393…