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PDFBoth Referendum 74 and the Initiative I-1192 are moving forward and are getting considerable press.
R-74 was filed Monday, as you know, by Joseph Backholm. There is a story being advanced that Joe Fuiten actually went to the Secretary of State's office to file a separate and different referendum earlier on Monday and was turned away because the Governor had not yet signed SB 6239 into law.
Dominc Holden, with Seattle's "Stranger" left wing, pro-homosexual newspaper which is read widely by the Seattle main stream press, published this:
Posted by Dominic Holden on Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 1:28 PM---------------------------------
Pastor Joe Fuiten walked into the Washington Secretary of State's office this morning to file a referendum attempting to overturn the same sex-marriage law that lawmakers passed last week. One problem: Governor Chris Gregoire hadn't signed the bill yet. So election workers turned him away with a 3:30 p.m. appointment to return (after the bill was signed), says Secretary of State's office spokesman David Ammons. Also this morning: Family Policy Institute of Washington director Joseph Backholm waltzed in with his own, separate plans to file a marriage referendum. Same problem, of course.
"I'd heard for a few days that they are not in sync on this," Ammons says.
I spoke with Dave Ammons yesterday and he told me there was some confusion in the Secretary's office because two different people were trying to file a referendum. He told me it was not two different referendums as they originally thought, but the same one. Both Backholm and Fuiten tried to file it separately. Backholm was successful.
It may have had to do with who wanted to sign it. I don't know.
Be very vigilant and discerning, the press and the homosexual activist community will do all they can to divide the pro-marriage community.
Reuters News Service, in a national story, quoted Joseph Backholm as defining Steve Pidgeon's I-1192 as "amazingly confusing".
It is not.
Brad Shannon, with the Olympian reported that "a Thurston County judge has fine tuned language for a ballot measure that seeks to limit marriages in Washington to heterosexual couples."
"This decision," Shannon says, "paves the way for Initiative 1192 sponsors to circulate petitions."
Pidgeon's Initiative is very straight forward. No confusion. The Initiative will be defined on the ballot as:
"Initiative measure 1192 concerns marriage for same-sex couples. This measure would define marriage as a civil contract between one man and one woman and would prohibit marriage for same-sex couples."
"Should this measure be enacted into law?" Yes [ ] No [ ]".
That's it. If it is on the ballot, that is what the voter will see.
Here's the challenge. It requires 241,153 valid voter signatures by July 6. Steve Pidgeon said petitions will be available within the next few days and will ultimately be available at thousands of churches, some Staples stores and online.
We will be making these available as soon as possible. The petition will be posted on our website for download as soon as it is available to us.
We support I-1192 because it takes a longer look at marriage and its long term protection.
Referendum 74 will require 121,577 valid voter signatures. The current law to legalize same-sex marriage, SB 6239, is on hold until July 6. If enough signatures are collected to put it on the ballot, the law will remain on hold until the November 6 election.
We support R-74 because it puts a temporary stay on the law and takes the short term action of overturning SB 6239.
Should R-74 be successful in overturning SB 6239, and I believe it will, the door would still be open for Sen. Ed Murray and others to introduce a new marriage bill in the future.
Should I-1192 be successful, and I believe it will be if we can get the signatures to put it on the ballot, it will essentially block future attempts to redefine marriage. I-1192 would make it very, very difficult to redefine marriage in the future.
The sponsors of R-74 are saying they should have petitions available by the first part of March.
Thank you to all of you who have volunteered to circulate petitions to defend marriage. I will be in touch with each of you through email. Your response has been terrific. We are organizing leaders in each part of the state, who will be coordinating the efforts of Faith and Freedom.
We are committed to seeing each---R-74 and I-1192 on the ballot.
Understandably, this is troublesome to those seeking to redefine marriage.
NOM has said they will be raising millions of dollars from both within the state and from other national organizations.
Faith and Freedom will be raising money to pay for our efforts to gather signatures and future efforts to educate and persuade voters to stand for marriage leading up to the November election.
Thank you for supporting us.
If you have not yet signed up to help circulate petitions, please do so here. If you have signed up, encourage friends and family members to do so as well. Talk to friends about it at church this weekend.
Be Vigilant. Be Discerning . Be Prayerful. Be Active. Be Blessed.