Same-sex union fight readied

Even before Gov. Chris Gregoire signs same-sex marriage into law today, supporters are anticipating an effort to overturn it – and some religious groups are weighing how far they’ll go to help do so.

When the inevitable petitions are circulated to put a referendum on the ballot, the pastor of one of the South Sound’s biggest churches will add his name and support to the cause. But only to a certain point.

“I’m going to sign one of those and I’m going to encourage my circle of friends to do so as well,” the Rev. Dean Curry said last week at a live video-streamed forum at Life Center in Tacoma.

But Curry said he won’t allow his church building where about 4,000 people worship on Sundays to be turned into a “three-ring circus” for signature-gathering. That would detract from the church’s message of “transformation in Jesus,” he said.

Some of the Tacoma area’s largest churches say gay marriage clearly conflicts with the Bible’s teachings, but they will take only limited steps they feel are appropriate to prevent Washington from becoming the seventh state in the nation to allow same-sex unions.

And the region’s largest faith group, the Catholic Church, hasn’t decided how it will carry out its opposition to same-sex marriage.

After Gregoire signs the bill approved by both chambers of the Legislature, opponents can start gathering the 120,577 signatures they’ll need to collect by June 6.

The director of one of the organizations that has pledged to put a referendum on the November ballot said churches will have to decide what their level of activism will be.

“Churches are going to be forced to make a decision,” said Joseph Backholm, executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington. “People within the churches are going to want something to happen.”

It will take about two weeks to go through the legal process to begin circulating petitions after the governor signs the bill, Backholm said.

Backholm said some churches in the Tacoma area have received and distributed his group’s literature about gay marriage legislation. But he said he doesn’t know yet which or how many churches – as well as organizations and individuals – in the South Sound will be registering voters and collecting signatures.

Those requests will start going out in the next few weeks.

“It’s kind of premature,” Backholm said. “That doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen.”

2009 EFFORT FAILED

Backholm’s Lynnwood-based group was among those that tried unsuccessfully in 2009 to overturn the expansion of domestic partnership rights for gay and lesbian couples, called the “everything but marriage” bill.

Referendum 71 passed with a 53 percent “yes” vote. It didn’t spark vocal opposition across a broad spectrum of religious groups.

But gay marriage could because it touches on a core Christian teaching: the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.

The state’s four Catholic bishops issued a statement last month opposing gay marriage. Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain also testified against the bill before a Senate committee.

Greg Magnoni, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Seattle, which covers Western Washington, said collecting signatures at local parishes is under discussion.

“I would presume we would be a part of any referendum effort,” Magnoni said. “Everything is under discussion, including what might occur at the parish level.”

For Life Center member Colin Magnuson, legalizing same-sex marriage crosses a line that domestic partnership rights didn’t.

The Bible teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman, said Magnuson, 38.

“I’m a Christian and I stand behind the Bible,” he said. “It really hits home.”

But he’s not an activist. The Lakewood resident said he’ll sign a petition but won’t gather signatures.

Jessy Graves, 18, of Fircrest said he’d sign a petition and also would collect signatures.

“I’m totally against gay marriage, but for loving the gay people,” said Graves, a Life Center member.

Because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the R-71 petitions, the names of people who sign referendum petitions to repeal gay marriage could be made public. Magnuson and Graves both said that possibility won’t deter them.

SIGNERS NOT SHIELDED

The defeat of R-71 was followed by a court battle over whether the names of petition signers could be sealed.

The people who collected signatures to put R-71 on the ballot argued they would be subject to harassment and intimidation if their names were made public.

Secretary of State Sam Reed opposed the request, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed. A federal judge later ordered the release of the names.

But Backholm said the potential for a signer’s name being made public won’t hurt the ability to gather signatures.

“I think it’s going to make no impact at all,” he said.

Another potential hurdle arose last week. A federal appeals court ruling on California’s Proposition 8 raised the possibility that even if Washington voters were to repeal gay marriage, the vote wouldn’t be constitutionally valid.

A three-judge panel found that California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violated the Constitution by discriminating against a group of people: gay men and lesbians. It’s likely the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the case.

ORGANIZED CAMPAIGN

Backholm said the campaign to repeal gay marriage will be more organized than the one to repeal domestic partnership rights.

“There’s less hesitation to get involved because it’s unambiguously about marriage,” he said.

Besides collecting petition signatures, churches can register voters, hand out materials on the biblical foundations of marriage and donate money, Backholm said.

“We want pastors to teach their congregations how to think about this issue biblically,” he said.

That’s what Champions Centre in Tacoma plans to do.

The Rev. Kevin Gerald, Champions Centre pastor, will teach what the Bible says about homosexuality and marriage, but he won’t use the pulpit as a political platform, said Nichole Moore, academic director at the church’s college.

She doubts Champions Centre’s campuses in Tacoma and Bellevue will be used to gather petition signatures.

“We definitely would want a vote on this measure,” Moore said. “Our perspective is that marriage is between a man and a woman. That is how it is defined in Scripture.”

While the Bible “declares homosexuality as sinful,” Moore said, Champions Centre welcomes gay people.

“We’re all sinners saved by grace,” she said.

CHURCH SUPPORT FOR SAME-SEX UNIONS

Some churches support legalizing gay marriage.

The governing board of 200-member Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Tacoma’s North End voted in December to support “marriage equality.”

Gay men and lesbians should have the same legal right to marry as heterosexuals, said the Rev. Dave Brown, the church’s pastor. Marriage is a covenant “in the eyes of God” that could be made between two people of the opposite gender as well as two people of the same gender, he said.

“I don’t think the Bible is nearly as clear on this issue as some of my conservative colleagues think,” Brown said.

In the face of a referendum campaign, Brown said, “We will continue to remind people through the media and other ways that there are diverse opinions on this and all issues within the Christian household.”

Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647
steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics

The Associated Press and The New York Times contributed to this report.