From the Sidelines: Ref 71

Have successfully moved to Seattle. As a non-citizen, I can't vote on the extremely confusing Referendum 71. From the Wikipedia page:

Since the Washington State law mandates that when an existing law is put up for a referendum, voters must either "approved" to confirm the law or "rejected" to oppose it.

Therefore, the movement to allow the bill to be enacted WITHOUT a referendum was called "Decline to Sign" and urged people to oppose Referendum 71, by NOT signing the petition. Hence, at that time, people who wanted to repeal the law were 'pro-71' and those who wanted the law to stand where 'anti-71'.

However, once the petition to place Referendum 71 on the ballot was found to be valid, the labeling becomes confusing. The ballot wording is such that voters vote in the affirmative to approve the law to approve domestic partnership or in the negative to reject the referendum (and domestic partnership).

It's been said before, by many, but I'll say it again. This is an indefensible referendum which goes beyond the common argument about the sanctity of marriage to attempt to take away civil partnerships from gay and lesbian couples. There is no hiding behind twisted logic or bizarre principles here: this is an outright, undisguised assault on existing progress. I will try to do what I can and spread the word. I can't vote, but I hope those who can make the right choice.