by: Lurleen
Thu Nov 05, 2009 at 20:48:42 PM EST
Washington voters have accomplished a national first by ratifying a new law that makes state registered domestic partnerships fully parallel to civil marriage. The provisional election result is currently 52% to 48%. This story is huge and is already getting some well-deserved attention. And remember, we won by a comfortable margin in an off-year election when the likely voter pool is dominated by older, more conservative voters. We know support for domestic partnerships is much higher in the general electorate.
Much is being made of the geographic clustering of counties where the majority of voters have approved R-71 (right, in green). Vote results are dismissed to some degree with a 'well of course Puget Sound counties...'. It is true that election results do rather neatly support the stereotype of Washington's east-west divide. But putting the R-71 results in historical context reveals a deeper story: almost every Washington county shows an increase in pro-equality voting.
The last time Washington voters had the opportunity to ratify a pro-equality law at the polls was in 1997. Initiative to the People 677 proposed an employment non-discrimination law. The ballot title read Shall discrimination based on sexual orientation be prohibited in employment, employment agency, and union membership practices, without requiring employee partner benefits or preferential treatment?.
The measure was rejected 59.7% to 40.3%. Contrary to the current image of the Puget Sound area of Washington as progressive, not one single county - not even Seattle's home of King County - voted to approve I-677. Contrast that with the current election where the electorate as a whole approved R-71 and majorities in 8 of Washington's 39 counties have approved R-71. But the truly stunning statistic is that the rate of ballot measure approval increased between 1997 and 2009 in all but one county.
Another mark of progress is the fact that voters in 21 counties approved R-71 by over 40%. Forty percent was the average statewide approval rate for I-677 in 1997. Those 21 counties are: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Klickitat, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Whatcom, Whitman.
As you consider the graph, realize that in contrast to R-71, I-677 was rather narrow in scope. It dealt only with the employment discrimination of individuals. Voting yes on I-677 didn't ask voters to contemplate the meaning of family; didn't ask voters to recognize the existence of gay and lesbian parents; didn't ask voters to find the fiction in school-focused scare tactics. In other words, not only have Washington voters moved towards equality in virtually every county, they've shown by their R-71 vote that they're open to supporting equality much more comprehensively in the law. This is big."
I think Lureen is missing two points.
1. R71 passed despite a very confusing ballot issue. Voting "yes" not to reject something is enough to confuse many folks. I know folks who did not vote because they could not understand the issue DESPITE the great TV ads from te pro
2. R71 shows that folhs WILL vote for equality but noit for anything that seems to diminish marriage or give special privileges based on sexual preferences.
I think the gay community greatly underestimates how strongly a lot of folks feel about keeping waht is none of our business, none of our business. The elegance of R71 is that it simply and clearly states that two folks who want to commit to a shared life should ave the right of free association, irrespective of their genders, of what they do in bed or if they do anything other than sleep in bed,
As some here may know, I oppose gay marriage because I think this is a form of newspeak, redefining a term that has other meaning However, R71 solves the problem in another way .. it simply says that whether you or gay or straight ought not to affect any relationship to the government!
Why not go national with R71???
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