'Everything but marriage' backers smelling victory

Supporters of Referendum 71 were energized by first-day returns showing the measure leading by a narrow margin.

The referendum to expand the state's domestic-partnership law was winning approval by nearly 2-to-1 in King County, where about 30 percent of the state's voters reside, and was also passing in other Puget Sound-area counties.

Throughout Eastern Washington and in more than half a dozen other counties, voters were soundly rejecting it.

But the trends appeared to favor passage of the measure because more votes remained to be counted in the counties that were approving it than in the counties that were rejecting it, according to a Times analysis.

The potential win for gay-rights advocates here came on the same night that voters in Maine rejected that state's same-sex marriage law, while in Michigan, voters in Kalamazoo overwhelmingly retained that city's anti-discrimination law protecting gays and lesbians.

Tuesday's Referendum 71 results were disappointing to religious conservatives, whose aggressive efforts to get the expanded partnership law thrown out had gained momentum in recent months. But they were not ready to concede defeat.

In a hallway outside their election-night gathering at an Everett hotel, Larry Stickney, campaign manager for Protect Marriage Washington, which had fought for rejection of Referendum 71, said it's too early to say what the next steps might be.

"We're still in the hunt," he said.

Stickney said regardless of the vote outcome, "It's important (to note) what's been accomplished here," referring to his organization's lawsuit, now being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, on release of the referendum signatures.

On Capitol Hill, where Referendum 71 supporters gathered at an election-night party, cheers went up as the King County numbers were announced, with less enthusiasm as the statewide results rolled out.

Anne Levinson, chairwoman of Washington Families Standing Together, which campaigned for approval of the law, called the early numbers encouraging — even calling the results "historic."

She discounted an apparent loss in Spokane County, saying the campaign was counting on the Puget Sound corridor for its victory.

"For gay and lesbian Washingtonians and their families, this is a major step forward in assuring that we're all treated equally under the law," Levinson said. "Based on what we've seen, if the numbers continue to hold as they are right now, it's a good result."

State Sen Ed Murray, D-Seattle, primary sponsor of the domestic-partnership bill, was optimistic about ultimate victory.

Tuesday's results show "this state really is hearing the story we're trying to tell about who gay and lesbian families are," he said. "That's really what this is about."

Passage of the referendum would mean that Senate Bill 5688 could be enacted in about a month, once the election is certified. The bill extends marriagelike benefits not only to same-sex couples but also to unmarried heterosexual couples where one partner is at least 62.

Only weeks after Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the bill, religious conservatives began collecting signatures to put the measure to a public vote in hopes that voters would throw it out. They warned voters from the start that the bill and the underlying domestic-partnership law it expanded were part of a strategic plan by gay-rights supporters to eventually get same-sex marriage legalized in Washington.

Washington's domestic-partnership law was patterned after California's, and Stickney said he believes that, just as happened in that state, it will be only a matter of time before gay-rights advocates push for marriage.

Referendum 71 was contentious from the start, spawning a divisive signature count by the Secretary of State's Office as well as lawsuits in both state and federal courts that sought, among other things, to keep secret the names of petition signers and campaign donors.

At the No on 71 gathering in Everett, Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church called the outcome "a victory regardless of the vote," pointing to a series of what he called impossible victories by Referendum 71 opponents throughout the campaign.

"We're praying that the vote comes through for us," he said. "If the vote doesn't come through tonight, we'll try again."

An earlier version of this story, published Tuesday, November 3, 2009, and corrected Wednesday, November 4, 2009, incorrectly stated the margin of approval for expanding the state's domestic partnership law in King County. The law won approval by nearly 2-to-1. We regret the error.