Preserving Marriage, Protecting Families

Arlington, WA - May 17, 2009 - A coalition of legislative and community leaders filed paperwork with the Public Disclosure Commission on Wednesday (May 13) to create a new political action committee Protect Marriage Washington.

The mission of the new PAC is to organize the effort to gather the 120,577 required signatures for Referendum 71 by July 25, 2009 to bring the controversial Senate Bill 5688 before the voters of Washington State in November. SB 5688 is a 110 page document which includes the phrase "marriage shall apply equally to state registered domestic partnerships" 180 times.

SB 5688 was packaged and presented to the legislature as a Domestic Partnerships expansion of benefits. In truth, it will demolish the state's historical understanding and definition of marriage as that of uniting a man and a woman for life as Washington State will immediately become subject to litigation by same-sex partners demanding that the courts overturn the Defense of Marriage Act and impose "same-sex marriage" (as happened recently in California prior to Proposition 8).

The R-71 petitions will be printed and made available shortly after the Governor puts her signature to a final bill (which she is expected to do on Monday) and after final text and summary are approved by the Attorney General (expected within five days of the Governor's signing).

Those who would like to sign the referendum and/or help gather signatures for the campaign are encouraged to complete our contact us form.

Those who would like to donate directly to the Referendum 71 signature gathering campaign are encouraged to do so by mailing a *check to:

Protect Marriage Washington PAC
PO Box 501
Arlington, WA 98223

Please include the following info (as required by WA State Public Disclosure Commission) when sending donations:
your address, occupation, and employer name

*The Protect Marriage Washington online donor system will be available very soon.

The following organizations and community leaders are actively endorsing the campaign and/or serving on the Steering Committee:

Join the growing Protect Marriage Washington coalition by contacting us on this page.