Protect Marriage Washington Files Suit

Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom
1 South 6th Street
Terre Haute, IN 47807-3510

 

PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Contact: James Bopp, Jr.
Phone: 812/232-2434; Fax: 812/235-3685; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Protect Marriage Washington Files Suit to Prevent 138,500 Names from Being Posted Online By Foes of Traditional Marriage

On July 28, 2009, Protect Marriage Washington and two petitioner signers filed suit against the Washington Secretary of State to prevent the Secretary of State from releasing the names and addresses of over 138,500 Washington citizens who stood up in defense of marriage by signing a referendum to put the domestic partnership law on the ballot. 

On Saturday, July 25, Protect Marriage Washington submitted petitions containing the signatures in an effort to place Referendum 71 on the November 2009 ballot regarding what is commonly referred to as the "everything but marriage" domestic partnership law. If the Secretary of State certifies the petition, the law will not become effective unless a majority of Washington citizens vote to "approve" the act of the state legislature.
 
Opponents have now threatened to obtain copies of the petition, which contain the name and address of each petition signer, in an effort to make them available on the internet. The clear goal of this effort is to intimidate and harass supporters of a traditional definition of marriage, an increasingly common tactic among opponents of traditional marriage. Protect Marriage Washington has asked the Court to immediately stop the Secretary of State from releasing the names until the Court can hold a hearing on whether the names should ever be released.
 
"The State cannot allow the release of the names on the Referendum 71 petition when the purpose is to harass and intimidate people who are merely exercising their right to speak," said James Bopp, Jr., lead counsel in the case.
 
Larry Stickney, Campaign Manager for Protect Marriage Washington said that "No petition signer should have to endure the threats and harassment I endured while circulating the petition."
 
Bopp added. "It is clear that the individuals who signed the petition will be harassed if the Secretary of State releases the names. The Court can prevent this harassment by preventing the Secretary of State from releasing the names."
 
The case is before the Honorable Judge Benjamin H. Settle, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, in Tacoma. Attorney Stephen Pidgeon (Everett, WA), an Alliance Defense Fund Allied Attorney, is serving as local counsel in the case.
 
James Bopp, Jr. has a national federal and state election law practice. He is General Counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech and former Co-Chairman of the Election Law Subcommittee of the Federalist Society.

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Mission

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).