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okay something you should know
Aug. 1st, 2009 11:33 pmI KNOW THIS IS TL;DR. PLEASE READ IT ANYWAY.
So, the last legislature expanded Washington State's domestic-partnership law to "separate but theoretically equal within the state," prompting the fundamentalists and the Catholic church - notably the Knights of Columbus - to step in with a referendum to strike the law and put it up to popular vote. Their campaign so far has been PROTECT MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN FROM PERVERT FAG SEX.
They ended up collecting about 135,000 signatures, which are going through validation now. They need around 110,000* valid ones to shake out of that; to reach that goal, the usual suggested buffer is 150,000. However, so far, their invalid rate is better than average. (Lying to people to get signatures - as they were shown to be doing in the last days of the campaign, collecting signatures on Queen Anne by claiming it was a pro-GBLT initiative - doesn't invalidate those signatures.)
Their rate is currently 11% invalid. If that rate remains constant, it will result in getting a bit over 120,000 valid signatures, thus striking the law from the books and putting it onto the ballot, where a majority of the voters will have to approve the initiative to put it back on the books.
The hate campaign has already been going on and will be ramped up. And honestly, I can't take another one of these things. Not right now. Not after the last six years, not after having slogged my way through eight of them already, and not after the latest round of abandonment and betrayal by the give-us-your-money-and-shut-the-fuck-up party. Just reading some of the top comments on this PI story about the referendum signature validation process has fucked me up. I can't deal anymore. The religious firehose of hate makes me shake just thinking about it.
So, you guys, take over. Please. You need to tell people to support Referendum 71, assuming it gets enough signatures to make it to the ballot, as currently seems likely. You need to remember that; you need to tell people now, and you need to tell people later, as the election comes up. I know it's counter-intuitive, but getting enough signatures alone is enough to take the law off the books, for practical intents and purposes; you have to vote the referendum in - vote yes on it - to put the law back into place.
Me, I'm going to have to ignore this as much as I can. It's going to be long and ugly and brutal and I just. can't. handle. another. one. I just can't.
eta is also *: According to another article I just read, they actually need around 120,000 signatures. Their current success rate still gives them that, but by less of a margin. Other sources had said 110,000-ish. I don't know which is right. See link in comments to a statistical analysis if you want.
So, the last legislature expanded Washington State's domestic-partnership law to "separate but theoretically equal within the state," prompting the fundamentalists and the Catholic church - notably the Knights of Columbus - to step in with a referendum to strike the law and put it up to popular vote. Their campaign so far has been PROTECT MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN FROM PERVERT FAG SEX.
They ended up collecting about 135,000 signatures, which are going through validation now. They need around 110,000* valid ones to shake out of that; to reach that goal, the usual suggested buffer is 150,000. However, so far, their invalid rate is better than average. (Lying to people to get signatures - as they were shown to be doing in the last days of the campaign, collecting signatures on Queen Anne by claiming it was a pro-GBLT initiative - doesn't invalidate those signatures.)
Their rate is currently 11% invalid. If that rate remains constant, it will result in getting a bit over 120,000 valid signatures, thus striking the law from the books and putting it onto the ballot, where a majority of the voters will have to approve the initiative to put it back on the books.
The hate campaign has already been going on and will be ramped up. And honestly, I can't take another one of these things. Not right now. Not after the last six years, not after having slogged my way through eight of them already, and not after the latest round of abandonment and betrayal by the give-us-your-money-and-shut-the-fuck-up party. Just reading some of the top comments on this PI story about the referendum signature validation process has fucked me up. I can't deal anymore. The religious firehose of hate makes me shake just thinking about it.
So, you guys, take over. Please. You need to tell people to support Referendum 71, assuming it gets enough signatures to make it to the ballot, as currently seems likely. You need to remember that; you need to tell people now, and you need to tell people later, as the election comes up. I know it's counter-intuitive, but getting enough signatures alone is enough to take the law off the books, for practical intents and purposes; you have to vote the referendum in - vote yes on it - to put the law back into place.
Me, I'm going to have to ignore this as much as I can. It's going to be long and ugly and brutal and I just. can't. handle. another. one. I just can't.
eta is also *: According to another article I just read, they actually need around 120,000 signatures. Their current success rate still gives them that, but by less of a margin. Other sources had said 110,000-ish. I don't know which is right. See link in comments to a statistical analysis if you want.
