Death Threats to Elizabeth Scott

Elizabeth Scott ran for the WA State Legislature this past election. She was also very active in the R-71 campaign, circulating petitions and gathering signatures.

She was also one of those deposed by Attorney General McKenna's office regarding the R-71 names.

She and her children received multiple death threats during the campaign because of her position on defending marriage.

Many have written to me expressing support and appreciation for running R-71 and the efforts to seal your names. Some, a very few, have suggested that McKenna and Reed were only doing their job in upholding transparency and disclosure laws.

We strongly support and advocate transparency and disclosure.

However, sometimes there are exceptional circumstances. We feel this was one of them. You read our joint press release and know that Stickney, myself, Steve Pidgeon and James Bopp all strongly disagreed with the judge's ruling. Reed and McKenna have celebrated. And I fear that some citizens who support natural marriage have been compromised by the immediate (within minutes) release of their names and other information.

We must now move on in defense of marriage. However, if you receive contact from homosexual activists regarding your support of natural marriage, please contact us with the details.

There was another aspect that became evident during the R-71 depositions.

It was the open hostility expressed by McKenna's staff toward, not only myself, but all those from our side who were deposed. Pidgeon and Bopp both said the depositions were beyond what they have seen in their law career. I personally have been deposed in several high stake entertainment cases and had never experienced the level of hostility in a deposition displayed by McKenna's staff toward myself, and in comparing notes, toward others, including a Russian Pastor who said the deposition reminded him of another place and another country where Christians are not looked upon very kindly.

This ruling not only puts citizens at risk who had a reasonable expectation of protection under law in participating in the initiative process, but provides a chilling effect on all Christian and conservative citizens who may be asked to sign petitions to repeal Ed Murray's homosexual marriage law in 2012, should he succeed in cramming it through the Legislature.

We are presently preparing and organizing for that possibility.

Elizabeth Scott once told me she shared with AG McKenna the information she has written below in a conversation during her campaign.

This is what she had to say following McKenna and Reed's big win.

In her own words:


For release: immediately

Contact: Elizabeth Scott, 206-330-1066

Elizabeth Scott “concerned” for safety and freedom of signers Elizabeth Scott, who ran for State Legislature last year, said she is “disappointed” in the decision of Judge Benjamin Settle to release the names of those who signed the Referendum 71 petitions. R71 allowed Washington voters to have their say about the Legislature’s “Everything But Marriage” law passed in 2010.

“Extremists issued multiple death threats to me and my children due to my being publicly questioned about my personal beliefs,” Scott said Monday. “I am greatly concerned for both the safety and the freedom of speech of those who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman, a definition that Americans have upheld in every state that has put it on the ballot.” Although threats, harassment, and intimidation are illegal, these crimes are not being fully prosecuted, as numerous plaintiffs in Doe v. Reed declared in their depositions.

With the County Sheriff and the State Attorney General failing to prosecute death threats, the 138,000 R 71 signers are undoubtedly wondering whom they should call for protection under the law. Scott added with a chuckle, “I guess when the First Amendment is eliminated, we drop back to the Second.”

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I personally wish we were not in this place, however, this is where we are and why.

Thank you for standing with us in these challenging times.

Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful. Be Active. Be Blessed.