(sorry for the x-posting for those of you on postqueer)

Yesterday I went to an organizing meeting for a group that is trying to get the word out to approve Referendum 71.

For those of you who don't know, in WA state, we have domestic partnership. It's not marriage, but the last legislative session, the lawmakers passed the last bits to make it equal to marriage in the state. It still doesn't have any of the federal rights, because ... well, DOMA and all that pleasant shit. Anyway, there is a group of right-wing bigots who were pissed off that this last round of rights were passed and got a petition together to put this to the electorate. The confusing part is that the way referenda work in WA state, if it's on the ballot, the person filling out the ballot is voting to approve or reject the law that was passed the last legislative session. So, even though it was a conservative group that got this on the ballot, now that it's ON the ballot, we want to approve it (unless you don't support same-sex marriage rights, in which case, we need to chat).

So, we have about 6 weeks total to get the word out. Apparently many people who support domestic partnership and/or same-sex marriage in our fair state didn't even know this was on the ballot. And there are people who support this legislation, but think that voting to reject it is supporting us. So, this is going to require a lot of work in a very short period of time.

Please consider donating money, volunteering to phone bank, door knock, or in any other way get the word out about this. You can find out more at Approve71.org.

This is the same issue as Prop 8 was in CA; this is the first time our civil rights have been put to a vote. Any way in which you are able to help will be greatly appreciated.