APPROVE Referendum 71
George V. Reilly
this:
Approve Referendum 71. http://approve71.org
And if you're not eligible, send us money. Our opponents will be
pulling out the stops.
On May 18, 2009, Governor Gregoire signed Senate Bill 5688, aka the
“everything but marriage bill” or the Domestic Partnership Law, a law
ensuring that all Washington families are treated the same, with the
same protections, the same rights, and the same obligations as their
neighbors. Under this law, registered domestic partners (same-sex
couples and opposite-sex couples with at least one partner over age
62), and married couples, are treated equally under the law in all
parts of the state.
Key rights and obligations in the law include:
* Death benefits for the partners of police and firefighters killed in
the line of duty.
* Pension benefits for the partners of teachers and other public
employees.
* Victims' rights, including the right to receive notifications and
benefits allowances.
* The right to use sick leave to care for a seriously ill partner.
* The right to workers' compensation benefits if a partner is killed
in the course of employment.
* The right to receive unemployment benefits if an employee must leave
a job to care for a seriously ill partner.
* The right to adopt a partner's child without paying for a home
study.
* The areas covered by the law include labor and employment law;
pensions, survivor and other public employee benefits; family law;
insurance rights; higher education; banks, financial institutions and
loan agencies; creditors' rights and business licenses.
Opponents of the domestic partnership law are seeking to repeal it.
Referendum 71 would ask voters whether the law should be approved or
rejected. A vote to "APPROVE" keeps the law so that all families will
have these protections in all parts of the state.
The Religious Right promptly put together a ballot initiative to
strike down the new DP law. They gathered signatures, but submitted
barely enough to qualify. For several weeks, the office of the
Secretary of State verified the initiative signatures. It was too
close to tell one way or another whether they would pass. Two weeks
ago, they limped past the threshold of 120,577 verified signatures
with a margin of about 900. The Secretary of State has officially
certified the result and Referendum 71 will be on the ballot in
November.
Putting rights up for a vote is indecent. Stripping citizens of hard-
won rights is fundamentally unfair.
Please spread the word. Tell everyone to Approve Referendum 71.
The wording is confusing but remember that you're voting to affirm the
recently passed law.
I expect this to be a difficult battle. The Religious Right is well-
funded and well-organized, they're already fired up and angry about
everything Obama does, and liberal turnout tends to be down in odd-
numbered years.
If you can spare some money, please make a donation to WAFST,
http://www.wafst.org/
By the way, don't assume that you're correctly registered to vote.
Please check that you're currently registered. Check that your friends
are registered too.
http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/osos/en/voterinformation/Pages/RegistertoVote.aspx
I spent 90 minutes phonebanking for Approve 71 after work last
Thursday. I called voters who had already been identified as leaning
progressive and asked them to vote APPROVE on Referendum 71 in
November.
If you want to join the effort, sign up at Approve71.org, and become a
fan on Facebook.
Phonebanking will take place regularly in Seattle and other locations.
In Seattle, it's happening at the Equal Rights Washington offices at
7th & Columbia, beside the freeway offramp. If you have a laptop with
Skype, bring it along.
See you there.
Approve Referendum 71, for fairness.
http://approve71.org/