A federal judge ruled Monday that petition signatures that forced Washington’s domestic partnership rights onto the ballot in 2009 should be released to the public.
State officials promptly complied, supplying The Associated Press with electronic records showing the 138,000 signatures for Referendum 71. The release came despite an attorney’s vow to appeal the ruling and seek temporary protection from the disclosure of names.
Gary Randall, a spokesman for the group Protect Marriage Washington, said he thought it was terrible that the state released the names. Leaders of Protect Marriage, which forced R-71 onto the ballot, had vowed to appeal in a bid to keep their supporters’ names private.
“I believe there will certainly be harassment, and I pray to God there isn’t more than that,” he said.
Washington Families Standing Together, the coalition that defended R-71 – and its broadening of rights for same-sex couples – called the ruling a victory against fraud in elections and political secrecy.
“Had the court agreed that these ballot measure petitions could be kept secret because the referendum’s sponsors were bothered by some who voiced opposition to their point of view, it would have set a terrible precedent for future elections,” Anne Levinson, who chaired the Washington Families Standing Together campaign in 2009, said in a statement.
In handing down his new order, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma found too little evidence of likely danger to R-71 signers to carve out an exception to state public records law that would shield the names of people who signed it.
The facts in this case “do not rise to the level of demonstrating that a reasonable probability of threats, harassment, or reprisals exists as to the signers of R-71,” Settle wrote.
Settle also said that hostility against supporters of both traditional marriage and same-sex marriage has “risen to violence elsewhere, against some who have engaged in that advocacy. This should concern every citizen and deserves the full attention of law enforcement when the line gets crossed and an advocate becomes the victim of a crime or is subjected to a genuine threat of violence.”
R-71 forced a domestic partnership law approved by the Legislature onto the November 2009 ballot, asking voters to uphold or reject it. R-71’s passage enshrined all the state rights of marriage for the roughly 9,380 couples on the registry.
Protect Marriage Washington brought the lawsuit after some pro-gay activists said they would publish online the names of people who signed the R-71 petitions. It argued that rights of association and voting trumped the Public Records Act. The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed, but left open a process for referendum backers to show that in their circumstances disclosure would subject them to reprisals.
Protect Marriage Washington filed claims with the federal court asserting harassment and threats that put supporters of the rights-repeal in fear of retaliation. Among the potential victims were Pastors Roy and Valerie Hartwell, who run a church in Lacey and reported that during the campaign they had received harassing phone calls and posed for a news photo next to one of their campaign signs that had been defaced.
Settle concluded that most threats were verbal or online threats or derogatory words and were insufficient to block the release of the names.
Randall said his group believes Settle was wrong in not providing an exception.
“We feel that people deserve protection on this particular case. We’re not opposed to transparency and disclosure. In fact all of us believe in that,” Randall said. “But this is an exceptional case, and we are dealing with people who most – not all – who are good people. But there are some gay activists who are not. I believe there is a risk to some of our people by some activists, not all.’’
Members of Washington Families Standing Together said gays and lesbians have long been subject to that kind of harassment without protections.
Read the ruling that prompted Monday’s release of the signers to 2009’s Referendum 71 at bit.ly/owmRvB.
Brad Shannon: 360-753-1688
bshannon@theolympian.com
www.theolympian.com/politicsblog
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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