Deceptive Yard Signs: Ref. 71 is NOT about gay marriage.

Enough signatures have been counted and verified to put R-71 on the ballot this coming November for Washington state. Putting R-71 is detrimental to equal rights. It jeopardizes a number of civil rights a registered domestic partnership has, specified by the state government. However, now that it is in the ballot, those who want to maintain the current state bill want to check approve for R-71. Here is what will appear on the ballot:

Assigned Number: 71
Filed: 05/04/2009

Sponsor
Mr. Lawrence Stickney
P.O. Box 501
Arlington, WA 98223
Phone: 360-631-1894

Ballot Title


The legislature passed Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5688 concerning rights and responsibilities of state-registered domestic partners and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this bill. This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage. Should this bill be:

Approved ___
Rejected ___

Click-y for the link to the Secretary of Washington State to see ballot and full text of referendum.

What really chaps my hide is that the people who oppose the State Bill are making it a whole other issue. They are touting this as a gay marriage bill or calling it a "Trojan Horse" to gay marriage. If you look at the ballot it says "domestic partnership is not a marriage." It is also appalling that this yard sign is out there.
Fine if you want to reject R-71, okay if you think marriage is "one man, one woman," but do not put the two together because the issue at hand with this referendum is NOT the definition of marriage, but the rights given to domestic partnerships.

Approvereferendum71.org has more information about the issue and it is not misleading the voter into thinking it is another issue. This site has good information on what the bill encompasses and what it protects.